Joshua Franco (El Profesor) pugile

Joshua Franco (born October 27, 1995) is an American professional boxer who has held the WBA (Regular) super flyweight title since 2020. As of June 2020, he is ranked as the world's eighth best active super flyweight by BoxRec.Franco made his professional debut on August 6, 2015, scoring a four-round split decision (SD) victory over Temoatzin Landeros at the Belasco Theater in Los Angeles, California. He amassed a 14-1 record during the next three years, with six of those victories coming by way of stoppage.Franco was scheduled to challenge Oscar Negrete for the WBC-NABF bantamweight title on October 4, 2018 at The Hangar in Costa Mesa, California. The bout was set as the main event of an ESPN2 and ESPN Deportes broadcast card. The fight, in which both men threw over 1000 punches, was ruled a split draw. Each fighter received a 96–94 scorecard from one of the judges, while the third judge scored the fight a 95–95 draw. An immediate rematch between the pair was set, with the WBC-NABF and vacant WBA International bantamweight titles on the line. The rematch was scheduled for April 25, 2019, as the co-main event of a junior welterweight bout between Yves Ulysse Jr. and Steve Claggett, and was broadcast by DAZN. Franco won the fight by split decision, with one score of 98-92 for Negrete and 96-94 and 97-93 for Franco. Franco made the first defense of his two secondary title against Oscar Negrete on August 10, 2019. The trilogy bout was scheduled as the co-main event of a welterweight fight between Vergil Ortiz Jr. and Antonio Orozco. Franco and Negrete once again fought to a split decision draw, with scores of 96–94, 95–95 and 93–96, the same as in their first meeting.Franco was scheduled to face Jose Alejandro Burgos in a non-title bout on January 11, 2020, on a DAZN broadcast card. Franco moved back down to super flyweight from junior bantamweight for this bout. He won the fight by a ninth-round technical knockout.After compiling a record of 16–1–2 (8 KOs) he challenged WBA (Regular) super flyweight champion, Andrew Moloney, on June 23, 2020 at the MGM Grand in Paradise, Nevada. After a competitive back-and-forth fight in which Franco scored a knockdown in the eleventh round, he defeated Moloney via twelve-round unanimous decision (UD) to capture the WBA (Regular) title. Two judges scored the bout 114–113 while the third scored it 115–112, with the eleventh-round knockdown being the deciding factor in Franco's victory; had he not scored the knockdown, Moloney would have retained his title through a majority draw. According to CompuBox stats, Franco landed 231 out of 789 (29.3%) punches thrown while Moloney landed 191 out of 663 (28.8%).