Juan Francisco Estrada Faces Questions at Bantamweight

It is unclear how much appetite there still is for Juan Francisco Estrada at this stage of his career.

The former two-division champion is now 35, and the leverage he once carried has thinned. His seventh-round knockout loss to Jesse Rodriguez in June 2024 did more than cost him a belt. It weakened the idea that Estrada still belonged near the top of the sport.

That defeat followed a stretch in which his position had already begun to slide. In 2022, Estrada edged Roman Gonzalez by majority decision in a third fight many observers felt went the other way. The result kept him in place, but it did little to settle the rivalry. Later that same year, Estrada struggled against Argi Cortes, a performance that added to concerns about where his career was heading.

Those fights mattered. Without the benefit of close or disputed decisions, Estrada’s recent run would read very differently. The Rodriguez knockout only made that harder to overlook.

Estrada attempted a reset last June, moving up in weight and earning a decision over Karim Arce Lugo. The win halted the slide, but it did not suggest a turnaround. It looked more like a veteran managing a lower-level fight than a contender establishing himself at a new weight.

With reports now linking Estrada to a WBC bantamweight eliminator against Tenshin Nasukawa in Japan, the focus turns to what remains. Nasukawa is still early in his boxing career and brings physical advantages. Estrada brings experience and name value, along with wear and open questions tied to his best division.

At this point, a fight like this speaks less to where Estrada might be headed and more to where he stands right now. It offers a clearer look at how much of his past level is still reachable, and how much of his career is now spent holding ground rather than gaining it.