Seniesa Estrada has decided to go straight to her grudge match with Yokasta Valle.

Estrada initially thought she would test out her surgically repaired right hand against another opponent before battling Valle later this year in their 105-pound title unification fight. BoxingScene.com has learned, however, that Estrada and Valle have instead agreed to meet March 29 at Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Arizona.

ESPN will televise Estrada-Valle as its co-feature before junior lightweight contenders Oscar Valdez (31-2, 23 KOs) and Liam Wilson (13-2, 7 KOs) square off in the main event of a card promoted by Bob Arum’s Top Rank Inc.

East Los Angeles’ Estrada (25-0, 9 KOs) and Costa Rica’s Valle (30-2, 9 KOs) will fight for Estrada’s WBA minimumweight and WBC strawweight championships and Valle’s IBF and WBO mini-flyweight titles. Estrada, a former WBO junior flyweight and WBA interim flyweight champion, and Valle, also an ex-IBF/WBO 108-pound champ, are the same age (31) and are both considered among the top 10 fighters, pound-for-pound, in women’s boxing.

These rivals might’ve met already if not for Estrada further damaging a ligament in her right hand during a tougher-than-anticipated, 10-round, unanimous-decision victory over Argentinean underdog Leonela Yudica (20-2-3, 1 KO, 1 NC) on July 28 at Palms Casino Resort’s Pearl Theater in Las Vegas. Valle challenged Estrada in the ring that night to fight her next in Costa Rica, but Estrada’s injury required surgery and time off from training.

Top Rank, Estrada’s promoter, always planned for Estrada-Valle to take place in the United States because both boxers will make more money than if they were to fight in the Nicaraguan-born Valle’s current country of residence. Airing Estrada-Valle on ESPN, with which Top Rank has an exclusive output deal, will afford them greater exposure as well.

Estrada understandably didn’t want to make any concessions to Golden Boy Promotions, her former promoter, either. Oscar De La Hoya’s company, which represents Valle, and Estrada parted ways in July 2022 after they couldn’t come to an agreement on a contract extension.

Whereas Estrada will end an eight-month layoff versus Valle, her upcoming opponent has fought twice since Estrada defeated Yudica. Valle won 10-round unanimous decisions against Guatemala’s Maria Micheo Santizo (11-5, 6 KOs) on September 16 in Commerce, California, and Mexico’s Anabel Ortiz (33-6, 4 KOs) on November 4 in Cartago, Costa Rica.

Valle has won 17 consecutive fights since her 10-round, unanimous-decision defeat to Tina Rupprecht (then 7-0) in June 2016 in Munich, Germany. Estrada shut out Germany’s Rupprecht (13-1-1, 3 KOs) on all three scorecards and won a 10-round unanimous decision last March 25 at Save Mart Center in Fresno, California.

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.