![](https://wbcboxing.com/wp-content/uploads/Estrada_Rodriguez_WBc-1.jpg)
WBC STATISTICS
WBC Super Flyweight World Championship
June 29, 2024 / Phoenix, Arizona / Footprint Center
MATCHROOM BOXING PRESENTS:
JUAN FRANCISCO “El Gallo” ESTRADA (Mexico)
2-time WBC Super Flyweight Champion, 3 Title Defenses
Age: 34 / Date of birth: April 14, 1990
Residence: Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico / Birthplace: Puerto Penasco, Sonora, Mexico
Record: 44-3, 28 KOs / Total rounds: 322 / World championship fights: 11-2, 6 KOs
Height: 5’4” – 163cm / Reach: 66” – 168cm / Stance: Right-handed
JESSE “Bam” RODRIGUEZ (USA)
Ranked WBC No. 1 at Super Flyweight
Former WBC Super Flyweight World Champion, 2 Title Defenses
Age: 24 / Date of birth: January 20, 2000
Residence, birthplace: San Antonio, Texas
Record: 19-0, 12 KOs / Total rounds: 103 / World championship fights: 5-0, 2 KOs
Height: 5’4” – 163cm / Reach: 67” – 170cm / Stance: Left-handed
1. Rafael Orono (Venezuela) 1980 – 1981
2. Chulho Kim (Korea) 1981 – 1982
3. Rafael Orono (Venezuela) 1982 – 1983*
4. Payao Pooltarat (+) (Thai) 1983 – 1984
5. Jiro Watanabe (Japan) 1984 – 1986
6. Gilberto Roman (+) (Mexico) 1986 – 1987
7. Santos Laciar (Argentina) 1987
8. Jose Bebis Rojas (Colombia) 1987 – 1988
9. Gilberto Roman (+) (Mex) 1988 – 1989*
10. Nana Konadu (Ghana) 1989 – 1990
11. Sungkil Moon (Korea) 1990 – 1993
12. Jose Luis Bueno (Mexico) 1993 – 1994
13. Hiroshi Kawashima (Japan) 1994 – 1997
14. Gerry Peñalosa (Phil) 1997 – 1998
15. Injoo Cho (Korea) 1998 – 2000
16. Masamori Tokuyama (Jap) 2000 – 2004
17. Katsushige Kawashima (Jap) 2004 – 2005
18. Masamori Tokuyama (Jap) 2005 – 2006 *
19. Cristian Mijares (Mexico) 2006 – 2008
20. Vic Darchinyan (Australia) 2008 – 2010
21. Tomas Rojas (Mexico) (Interim) 2009
22. Vic Darchinyan (Aust) 2009 – 2010*
23. Tomas Rojas (Mexico) 2010 – 2011*
24. Suriyan Por Chockchai (Thai) 2011 – 2012
25. Yota Sato (Japan) 2012 – 2013
26. Srisaket Sor Rungvisai (Thai) 2013 – 2014
27. Carlos Cuadras (Mexico) 2014 – 2016
28. Roman Gonzalez (Nic) 2016 – 2017
29. Srisaket Sor Rungvisai (Thai) 2017 – 2019*
30. Juan Francisco Estrada (Mex) Franchise 2019 –
31. Jesse Rodriguez (US) 2022 – 2022
32. Juan Francisco Estrada (Mex) 2022* –
* Regained
25 world champions have been recognized by the WBC, of whom only seven have regained the title: Rafael Orono (Venezuela), Gilberto Roman (Mexico), Masamori Tokuyama (Japan), Vic Darchinyan (Australia), Tomas Rojas (Mexico), Srisaket Sor Rungvisai (Thailand), Juan Francisco Estrada (Mexico).
121 super flyweight world title fights have been held in WBC history.
1. Gilberto Roman (Mexico)
2. Santos Laciar (Argentina)
3. Jiro Watanabe (Japan)
4. Chulho Kim (Korea)
5. Cristian Mijares (Mexico)
6. Gerry Peñalosa (Philippines)
7. Sungkil Moon (Korea)
8. Rafael Orono (Venezuela)
9. Carlos Cuadras (Mexico)
10. Jose Luis Bueno (Mexico)
Dec. 3 2022 Juan Francisco Estrada W12 Roman Gonzalez – Glendale, Arizona
Sep. 17, 2022 Jesse Rodriguez W12 Israel Gonzalez – Las Vegas, Nevada
June 25, 2022 Jesse Rodriguez TKO8 Srisaket Sor Rungvisai – San Antonio, Texas
Feb. 5, 2022 Jesse Rodriguez W12 Carlos Cuadras – Phoenix, Arizona
Mar. 13, 2021 Juan Francisco Estrada W12 Roman Gonzalez – Dallas, Texas
Oct. 23, 2020 Juan Francisco Estrada TKO11 Carlos Cuadras – Mexico City, Mexico
Apr. 26, 2019 Juan Francisco Estrada W12 Srisaket Sor Rungvisai – Inglewood, California
Feb. 24, 2018 Srisaket Sor Rungvisai W12 Juan Francisco Estrada – Inglewood, California
Sep. 9, 2017 Srisaket Sor Rungvisai KO4 Roman Gonzalez – Carson, California
Mar. 18, 2017 Srisaket Sor Rungvisai W12 Roman Gonzalez – New York, New York
Sep. 10, 2016 Roman Gonzalez W12 Carlos Cuadras – Inglewood, California
May 31, 2014 Carlos Cuadras TW8 Srisaket Sor Rungvisai – Iztacalco, Mexico
Nov. 15, 2013 Srisaket Sor Rungvisai TKO9 Hirofumi Mukai – Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand
Feb. 7, 2009 Vic Darchinyan TKO11 Jorge Arce – Anaheim, California
Aug. 30, 2008 Cristian Mijares TKO3 Chatchai Sasakul – Monterrey, Mexico
Feb. 27, 2006 Masamori Tokuyama W12 Jose Navarro – Osaka, Japan
June 28, 2004 Katsushige Kawashima TKO1 Masamori Tokuyama – Yokohama, Japan
Jan. 2, 2000 In-Joo Cho W12 Gerry Peñalosa – Seoul, South Korea
Nov. 23, 1997 Gerry Peñalosa KO10 Young-Joo Cho – Seongnam City, South Korea
Jan. 18, 1995 Hiroshi Kawashima W12 Jose Luis Bueno – Yokohama, Japan
Nov. 13, 1993 Jose Luis Bueno W12 Sungkil Moon – Pohang City, South Korea
June 9, 1990 Sungkil Moon TKO8 Gilberto Roman – Seoul, South Korea
Jan. 20, 1009 Sungkil Moon TW9 Nana Konadu – Seoul, South Korea
Nov. 7, 1989 Nana Konadu W12 Gilberto Roman – Mexico City, Mexico
Apr. 8, 1988 Gilberto Roman W12 Sugar Baby Rojas – Miami Beach, Florida
May 16, 1987 Santos Laciar TKO11 Gilberto Roman – Reims, France
Mar. 30, 1986 Gilberto Roman W12 Jiro Watanabe – Hyogo, Japan
Jul. 5, 1984 Jiro Watanabe W12 Payao Poontarat – Osaska, Japan
Nov. 27, 1983 Payao Poontarat W12 Rafael Orono – Pattaya, Thailand
May 9, 1983 Rafael Orono W12 Raul Valdez – Caracas, Venezuela
Apr. 22, 1981 Chulho Kim W15 Jiro Watanabe – Seoul, South Korea
Feb. 2, 1980 Rafael Orono W15 Seung-Hoon Lee – Caracas, Venezuela
By James Blears
Time isn’t on the side of Juan Francisco ‘’Gallo’’ Estrada.
Aged thirty- four, Juan Francisco ‘’Gallo’’ Estrada is no spring chicken, yet on June 29th he’ll be once again attempting to maintain his pecking order and feather his nest garnished with a nest egg, in the golden Autumn of his career, trying with all of his might to stave off the lusty, dusty challenge of a young rooster called Jesse ‘’Bam’’ Rodriguez, who is a decade younger.
Gallo 44-3, 28 KO’s, has been out of the arena for some time. He says it’s given him an opportunity for several injuries to heal and to enjoy his family, away from the bustle of a battery of boxing demands, which have taken up so much of life.
The last time he fought was the thrillogy,-trilogy decider against Roman ‘’Chocolatito’’ Gonzales in a very close and thrilling contest. Gallo drew upon his guile, tenacity, versatility and on the reservoir of iron-willed mindset, to win a MD against an intrepid, skilful and seasoned rival, who is a multi- champion in his own right. That was on December 3rd 20022 at the Gila River Arena in Glendale, Arizona.
After that, an attempt to match him with WBA champion Kazuto Ioka in a unification imploded. Gallo pointed out that he was being offered half the purse that he’d taken home, following the Chocolatito bout and this didn’t amount to just desserts. Now, the upcoming fight against Bam is at the Footprint Center in Phoenix, Arizona. The viable way has been justified by ample pay.
The younger man is the favourite according to the bookies, and Gallo meaningfully retorts: ‘’The odds don’t mean anything. I know he’s going to be on the top of his game and coming with everything. I’m preparing for and I’m expecting the best Bam. It’s going to be a great fight. Expect fireworks!’’
Bam, now 19-0, 12 KO’S, was only eight years old when Gallo made his debut in 2008 respectfully says: ‘’I’m fighting for my fourth world title against a Legend. Gallo is huge! This is the fight I’ve been waiting for and I’m ready to prove myself once again.
‘’I’m a lot fresher. I’m still only twenty-four. He’s been through a lot of wars. Probably, it’s taken a toll on him. But…I’m expecting the best Estrada. That’s exactly what I’m preparing for.’’
Part of that preparation has involved sparring with the Gallo’s arch ring rival Chocolatito. Bam loved, lived and learned from it commenting: ‘’This was actually my first time sparring him. I believe he does things similar to Estrada. So, I was working on things I’m going to do in this upcoming fight.’’
Thus far, southpaw Bam has been in a tearing hurry, since his pro debut in 2017, and he’s been prepared to take smart calculated risks to get to where he is right now. He was scheduled to fight Fernando Diaz for the WBC USNBC flyweight title on the undercard of Srisaket Sor Rungvisai Vs Carlos Cuadras on February 5th 2022, but Sor withdrew. So, Bam replaced him on just five days of notice, moving up to super-flyweight for the first time since 2018. He knocked The Medicine Man down with a right uppercut in round three and went on to win a UD and the Green and Gold Belt with it. The youngest champion in Boxing, aged just twenty- two.
In his first defence, he took on Srisaket Sor Rungvisai, knocking him down with a left hook in the seventh and then TKO’ing him with a cascade of punches one round later. He defeated tough as nails three times challenger Israel Gonzalez by UD for a second successful defence and then vacated to slim down to flyweight again.
He showed his mettle by defeating Cristian Gonzalez for the vacant WBO title winning a UD in spite of suffering a broken jaw in the sixth which required surgery. He returned to overwhelm Sunny Edwards who was knocked down in the ninth and was pulled out of the fray, after the bell by his corner.
Sunny was put in the shade by a stiff right jab in round two which swelled his left eye. From then on he was seeing double, but typically and valiantly soldiered on. His right eye started swelling and by the end which was humanely declared by his own corner he was cut above both eyes. It was discovered that he had suffered a fractured left eye socket.
This will be Bam’s tenth fight since 2020 and it’ll be Gallo’s fifth. Even though he’s excelled in everything he’s done thus far, he’s never fought someone of Juan Francisco’s calibre and in not underestimating him he muses: ‘’I think age is going to play a big factor, especially as Estrada comes off a big layoff. Yet, I’m expecting the very best Estrada. He moves well, knows how to box and has a great ring IQ.’’
Just so, because Gallo has fought 322 rounds as a pro, while Bam has raced through 102. This will be Gallo’s thirteenth world title fight, while it’ll be Bam’s fifth.
As a younger, more callow fighter, Estrada slimmed down to take on Chocolatito at light fly for the WBA title in 2012, losing a UD. But moving up to his more natural weight he defeated Brian Viloria for the WBA and WBO super-fly titles in his next fight.
Nine fights later he took on Carlos Cuadras, dropping him in the tenth on the way to a UD victory. He came unstuck losing a majority decision to suthpawSor for the WBC super-flyweight title. But two victories later he avenged this via a UD win. After a ninth round TKO over Dewayne Beamon, he again fought CC dropping him in the third and twice in the eleventh for a TKO triumph.
He won the long- awaited rematch with Chocolatito via a SD, and defeated tough Argi Cortes dropping him in the seventh on his way to a UD win. Gallo won the decider against Chocolatito with a MD to secure the vacant WBC super-flyweight title.
Pastor Sunday Adelaja once wrote: ‘’Life is a race against time.’’ Philosopher and Statesman Sir Francis Bacon stated: ‘’Begin what you want to do now. We are not living in Eternity. We have already this moment, sparkling like a star in our hand and melting like a snowflake.’’
The two them share consistency. After losing both parents aged only fourteen, Juan Fransico was brought up by an aunt. He met his Trainer Alfredo Caballero aged fifteen and Alf has been in his corner ever since. Jessie met his trainer and former world champion Robert Garcia aged just nine and he remains a central advisor and he has remained an essential part of his preparations ever since.
Most great boxing champions strive for what’s known as an Indian Summer, which is a period of success occurring later. Within them, they often have a special final hurrah involving one or two truly great fights culminating in A Grand Finale. On June 29th, it’ll be Gallo’s herculean task to dredge up greatness all over again in this Voluntary Defence. While it will be Bam’s avowed intention to deprive him of it.
Father time and Mother Nature don’t do any of us favours. The truly Greats can hold back the hands of the clock defying it, but only for so long. This barnstormer, is a contest between experience and youth, perhaps encapsulated in this poem:
What is Time?
Nothing casts time asunder
Even lightning or thunder
Time isn’t yours’ or mine. It’s hard to define.
Inside your body, its clock is ticking with arteries thickening.
All the years have come and gone. Am I halfway there… or almost done?
Is a year more mine, or two, or twenty? Will it cut me down, or give me plenty?
test