The Championships Committee of the World Boxing Association (WBA) made the decision to withdraw the recognition of Juan Francisco “Gallo” Estrada as super flyweight champion of the organization. With the decision, Joshua Franco remains as the only 115-pound champion by the pioneer body.
The decision was made based on the WBA internal rules and taking into account all the events that have taken place in recent months.
Estrada won the title on March 13, 2021 with a victory over Roman Gonzalez. On February 9 of this year, the committee ordered him to fight Joshua Franco, mandatory challenger. Subsequently, on April 4, the fight was sent to purse bid.
On April 19, the bidding took place with the sole participation of Golden Boy Promotions, Franco’s representatives, who won the rights to promote the fight. On May 16, the signed contracts were sent for the fight to take place on July 16.
Subsequently, on July 22, the committee sent a document to Estrada requesting information about his future plans in boxing, since 1 year and 4 months had passed without a title defense.
Taking into account that all fighters and their representatives must know the WBA rules and that rule D-14 states that a fight that went to auction must take place between 45 and 90 days after the date on which the fight took place, the committee made the decision regarding Estrada.