Joshua Franco Announces Retirement

Joshua Franco has announced his retirement via Instagram in the wake of his unanimous decision loss to Kazuto Ioka. Franco, 27, was the sole WBA super flyweight champion from July 2022 onwards following Juan Francisco Estrada’s decision to vacate his title. He held that belt until June 23 of this year, losing his title after failing to make weight for his bout with Ioka.

A San Antonio, Texas native, Franco began his professional career in August 2015. His brother, Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez, is also a professional boxer and currently holds the WBO flyweight title. In a professional career that spanned roughly eight years, Franco competed at super flyweight and bantamweight. He spent the bulk of his career in the United States. His last two fights were the only times he did not fight on American soil. Despite having 24 fights as a professional, Franco was involved in two entertaining trilogies against Andrew Moloney and Oscar Negrete. In addition to these trilogies, he also had two fights against Ioka. Franco retires with a record of 18-2-3 with one no decision, winning eight of his fights by knockout.

Joshua Franco statement

Below is the full statement he posted to Instagram regarding his retirement:

I wanted to start off by saying Thank You to everyone that has supported me in my career. I appreciate everyone for their continued support. I was able to live my childhood dream of becoming a World Champion. I defended my title multiple times all over the world and always tried my best to represent San Antonio, TX proudly.

For the majority of my career I have been going through a lot of mental problems that I was doing my best to control. I never talked about it publicly because I didn’t want anyone to think I ever made an excuse for anything or for anyone to look at me different. I battled through it as much as I could to still perform and give you guys some great fights. For anyone that battles through any type of mental health issues please know you are not alone. And you can’t let anything stop you from achieving your dreams

I want to say Thank You to my team. My mom, dad and brothers for all their help and support throughout my whole career. Everyone at RGBA for believing in me helping me achieve my dreams. You guys always believed in me and I will forever be grateful.

Last night in Tokyo, Japan was officially my last fight. It was a tough week for me and I didn’t get the result I wanted but I leave this sport knowing I gave it everything I had

Again Thank You to everyone for all their support and I’ll see you guys around.

Big Fight Weekend congratulates Franco on the career he has had and wishes him the best of luck in his future endeavors.