Seniesa Estrada continues the aggressive push to fully unify the strawweight division.
For now, she will gladly settle for the steady stream of ring activity which she is confident will ultimately lead to that goal.
“It feels great, my third fight in less than a year,” Estrada told BoxingScene.com of what is actually her third fight in eight months since signing with Top Rank last July. “I’m glad that I’m still able to get in there and defend my titles and stay busy. I will be able to be at my best.”
Thursday will mark the one-year anniversary of Estrada (24-0, 9KOs) signing a multi-fight deal with Top Rank. Her debut with the company came last November, following an eleven-month inactive stretch largely spent at odds with Golden Boy before parting ways on bitter terms.
A victory over Jazmin Gala Villarino last November saw Estrada win all ten rounds but not feel like herself. That changed in her next fight, when the East Los Angeles native pitched a ten-round shutout over then-unbeaten Tina Rupprecht to unify the WBC and WBA titles on March 25 in Fresno, California.
Estrada will now make her fifth overall title defense and first as a unified champ. It comes versus former long-reigning IBF flyweight titlist Leonela Yudica, which airs live on ESPN+ this Friday from The Palms in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The hope immediately coming out of the Rupprecht win was to land a fight versus WBA/IBF 105-pound titleholder Yokasta Valle (28-2, 9KOs), though it remains an elusive showdown. The decision amongst Estrada’s team was to keep the line moving until that day comes, for which she wants to be at full strength rather than stuck on the sidelines.
“My debut with Top Rank, I really felt the ring rust,” Esrada admitted. “I felt it in my legs, I didn’t feel like myself. Going into the fight with Tina, I felt like my legs were all the way back. You saw it in my performance in a unification fight.
“My defense, maneuvering and footwork—that’s my style, that’s just who I am so it felt good to be at my best. You will see that on (Friday), this activity will only keep me at my sharpest.”
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox