Seniesa Estrada and the frustration of non-unification

Seniesa Estrada. Photo credit: Golden Boy Promotions

Nov

Seniesa Estrada is calling Yokasta Valle’s bluff.

Costa Rica’s Valle (22-2, 9 knockouts), who holds the IBF 105-pound title, took exception to recent comments made by Estrada on social media regarding how none of the champions in or around her weight division are willing to fight her.

“[Estrada] said that they [should strip us of our titles] because we’re not willing to fight. I responded. I said, ‘Hey, I’m here,” Valle, The Ring’s No. 3-ranked female strawweight, said of her rival.

The 29-year-old Valle, a Nicaragua native based in Costa Rica, went as far as to say that Estrada’s comments came off as arrogant and that she was willing to unify against the unbeaten American, who holds titles in two divisions simultaneously: strawweight and junior flyweight.

However “Super Bad” Estrada (21-0, 8 KOs), of East Los Angeles, 29, let out a laugh as she shed more light on the situation, revealing to The Ring in an exclusive interview that efforts by her side had already been made to stage an Estrada-Valle unification.

“She didn’t call me out, first of all,” she stated. “I don’t know why [she called me arrogant] because our matchmaker Robert Diaz had been trying to make that fight happen three times already.

IBF female strawweight titlist Yokasta Valle

“It’s always something on her side but, of course, she doesn’t say that publicly. She didn’t call me out. I’ve been asking to fight her. And like said, all these champions are defending their belts and fighting people who aren’t even ranked. But these organizations are allowing it, which is frustrating.”

In recent days, figureheads from the IBF, WBC and WBO met with the WBA to supposedly formulate a possible agreement in search of a standardized process for world title unifications.

It’s safe to say that Estrada’s approach to making changes to how the sport handles unifications is reminiscent of her manner in the ring: “Let’s do our jobs and make the fights happen.”

Estrada, ranked No. 1 at both 105 and 108 pounds by The Ring, revealed that she has been asked to speak several times at the WBC Convention to convey what she would want to see moving forward but she doesn’t see the point.

“It’s never going to work because, either way, they’re going to do what they want.”

Estrada won her first title on March 20 with a 12-round unanimous decision over Anabel Ortiz, whom she floored in the first round en route to lifting the WBA strawweight title. In her subsequent bout, on July 9, she outpointed Tenkai Tsunami to lift the WBO junior flyweight strap.

Seniesa Estrada (right) brought her own storm to the tough Tenkai Tsunami. Photo by Sye Williams / Golden Boy Promotions

However it is demonstrably discernible that a majority, if not all of Estrada’s vexation, points toward one direction. And who could blame her? The job of the sanctioning bodies is to literally mandate high-quality bouts. And more often than not, mandated bouts have been flat-out mismatches and bloody massacres.

Estrada does not want a repeat of July 2020, when she scored the fastest knockout in women’s boxing history, a seven-second annihilation of Miranda Adkins. The Kansas-based fighter entered their bout at 5-0 (5 knockouts) but it later turned out in an exclusive Ring investigation that she was bagging victories over strippers in the Midwest, thanks in part to her then-husband, disgraced promoter John Carden.

Estrada wants to face the best, including WBC junior flyweight titlist Yesenia Gomez (19-5-3, 6 KOs), against whom she yearns to unify. However, like Valle, her calls seem to have fallen on deaf ears.

“And Yesenia Gomez, her promoter, has been purposefully putting off the fight and telling Robert that he wants Yesenia to have some other fights before fighting me.

“So basically, they’re holding the belt [hostage]. It’s not right. I want to fight her and I hope to fight her next year if the WBC makes it happen. It’s really frustrating because somebody like me who wants to fight the best and wants these titles and wants to unify doesn’t get these fights because the organizations aren’t doing their jobs.”

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