Two-belt minimumweight titleholder Seniesa Estrada will finally get the fight she has longed for when she confronts Yokasta Valle in Glendale, Arizona, on March 29.
“It’s relief and excitement,” Estrada told Boxing Scene of the undisputed title fight with Valle, her Costa Rican rival and fellow two-belt titleholder.
“It has been years in the making. But as we were saying, even though it has been years in the making trying to make this fight, there is no better time to do it than now because women’s boxing has been the best that it has been – ever. I’m happy we were able to get this exposure on this platform.”
Estrada and Valle, both 31, will square off to determine who is the leading fighter at 105 pounds. They previously shared a promoter – until Estrada signed with Top Rank in 2022, after growing disillusioned with Golden Boy Promotions.
Estrada and Golden Boy chairman Oscar De La Hoya hugged in February at a fight-week press conference for the Teofimo Lopez–Jamaine Ortiz bout, but if forgiven, it seems all is not forgotten.
“It is something that I always take personally because it is my career,” Estrada said of the split. “Nobody knows what I went through with that situation, but I don’t want any animosity with Oscar and Golden Boy Promotions during the build-up to this fight. I just wanna fight; I just want to go in there and walk out of the ring as undisputed champion. That will be the best feeling – better than all the talking I can do.”
Estrada hopes her rivalry with Valle and the draw of watching the minimumweight division’s first-ever undisputed champion be crowned will attract interest in a weight class that hasn’t yet caught up to the popularity of some of the other women’s divisions.
“I’ve been trying to get eyes on these lower weight divisions, because we have it with Amanda Serrano, Katie Taylor, Mikaela Mayer,” Estrada said. “All those weight classes are stacked and have had eyes on them, but there has never been a fighter like me to bring that exposure and a platform to the lower weight divisions. I’m glad we will be able to do it.”
Estrada wants to be recognized as an all-time great fighter, period – not just a great female fighter. The Valle fight, which will serve as chief support to the Oscar Valdez–Liam Wilson main event, will feature two minute rounds – a format in women’s boxing that Estrada and other contemporaries are increasingly pushing back on.
“I’ve been wanting to go to three minute rounds since I first turned pro,” Estrada said. “Three-minute rounds is something that can help women’s boxing, because we would be able to show better ring IQ, skill level and we would just have more time. I think that is something that I would like to see change, for sure.”
Beyond that, Estrada says, putting the best fighters in against one another will help elevate women’s boxing over the long haul.
“That is something fight fans will want to see – two highly skilled fighters being matched up with each other,” she said. “That’s what is going to help, for sure.”