Former American WBA Super Flyweight champion Joshua Franco has shocked the boxing world when he announced his retirement on Sunday, June 25th; just a day after his world title battle against Kazuto Ioka. Aside from losing to Ioka by unanimous decision, Franco also suffered the embarrassment of having his WBA title stripped after weighing in 6 pounds over the normal limit.
Joshua Franco’s (18-2-3, 8 KO’s) decision to retire seems to stem around mental health issues that he had been dealing with, as he revealed on his June 25th Instagram post.
“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,” Franco explained through his Instagram account.
“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.“
Joshua Franco’s retirement at the age of 27 comes just two weeks after former multi-division world champion Teofimo Lopez (19-1, 13 KO’s) retired at the age of 25, though his reasons for retiring are vastly different from Franco.
Before his second career loss to Kazuto Ioka (30-2-1, 15 KO’s) on June 24th, Franco had worked himself up the ladder despite several setbacks he encountered during his career, including a devastating stoppage loss to Argentinian Lucas Fernandez, and a draw against experienced former world title challenger Oscar Negrete, after narrowly winning against Negrete in their first match.
Joshua Franco is perhaps known for his trilogy with Australian Super Flyweight contender Andrew Moloney (25-3, 16 KO’s), who he managed to beat twice over the course of their three bouts. Moloney also was the fighter Franco won his first world title against when they battled in 2020.
Following his trilogy with Andrew Moloney, Franco split a draw decision with Kazuto Ioka on the last day of 2022. Their rematch on June 24 did unfortunately not go in Joshua Franco’s favor after he lost both his title after the weigh-in and the bout when he faced Ioka for the second time.
Franco completed almost 8 years in professional boxing before his eventual retirement. His debut made his debut on the 6th of August against Temoatzin Landeros Castillo who he defeated by split-decision.
Joshua Franco is also the older brother Jesse “Bam Bam” Rodriguez (18-0, 11 KO’s) who is the current WBO Flyweight champion and currently rated as the best Flyweight in the world according to BoxRec.
