The past few years for WBA junior bantamweight champion Joshua Franco have been a wild ride. As Franco found himself in his second trilogy of his career against Andrew Moloney, as early in his career he fought a trilogy with Oscar Negrete as well.
Franco waited for Juan Francisco Estrada, but the bout never came. Instead, Franco the current WBA junior bantamweight world champion, took a fight on December 31st, in Japan, at the Ota-City General Gymnasium, in Tokyo, to fight in a unification bout with Kazuto Ioka, the WBO junior bantamweight champion.
The result - a draw. Though many observers felt Franco should have been awarded the victory. The two will rematch at the same venue on June 24th, 2023, as Franco’s manager, Rick Mirigian recently caught up with ProBox TV News to inform us of the latest happenings with Franco.
“Franco is my favorite scenarios,” said his manager, Rick Mirgian in Manteca, California. “As I told you in the past, we all think he beat Ioka last time without question, he is going to go back again [to Japan]. He has gotten paid very well to do so in Japan. I think he beats Ioka [clearly] this time, if not stops him.”
Mirigian is very confident in his client, Franco, and the training of Robert Garcia, the lead voice in the corner for Franco. Upon a deep reflection, Mirigian doubled down and stated that Franco will stop Ioka.
It appears that if Franco is successful his team is fully focused on forcing a fight with Juan Francisco Estrada. Mirigian believes despite past issues in making that fight that this fight will be made if Franco can be successful against Ioka in the rematch.
“I have a good relationship with Zanfer [Estrada’s promoter],” said Mirigian. “I will definitely sit with Fernando [Beltran] and his team, and see how we can make that fight. [Joshua Franco versus Juan Francisco Estrada] is the one to make at this point. Estrada before was [pursuing a ‘Chocolatito] Gonzalez [trilogy], but look, that’s a big money fight for Estrada, and we understand that. I understand the business side more than anybody. I don’t fault Estrada for trying to make as much as he can, that is what the sport is about. I think that ship with [Roman ‘Chocolatito’] Gonzalez has sailed, and Franco becomes the guy at this point."
