Golden Boy wins Juan Francisco Estrada vs Joshua Franco purse bid, targets June or July

Despite requesting and receiving an extension in the negotiation period, WBA “super” super flyweight champion Juan Francisco Estrada and “world” champion Joshua Franco went to a purse bid today for their mandated title consolidation. Golden Boy Promotions emerged victorious with an unopposed $120,000 offer, the minimum allowed by WBA regulations; it will be split 75/25 between Estrada and Franco, meaning $90K for the former and $30K for the latter.

GBP listed June 11th in L.A. and July 16th in California or Nevada as their two target dates.

This isn’t the worst purse I’ve ever seen, but it’s definitely down there. A top-three super flyweight with Estrada’s (42-3, 28 KO) body of work shouldn’t be making under $100,000 for a defense, and Franco (18-1-2, 8 KO) deserves a hell of a lot more than high-end UFC show money.

Estrada is, of course, free to ditch the title; he also holds the WBC “Franchise” belt, which opens up potential clashes with standard titlist “Bam” Rodriguez and mandatory challenger Srisaket Sor Rungvisai. Should he vacate, Joshua would presumably fight No. 1 ranked contender Chocolatito Gonzalez for the belt, who had been pursuing a WBO title shot against Kazuto Ioka, but the latter recently received orders to rematch Donnie Nietes.

We’ll keep you posted as this mess plays out.