“Bam” Rodriguez Focused on Unification and Ascent
Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez has set himself an ambitious plan: to conquer the super flyweight division before moving up to a higher weight class. The boxer from San Antonio, Texas, has two key fights to achieve his goal. The first challenge is Fernando Daniel Martínez, whom he will face for three world belts at the ANB Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. This fight is part of a stellar card that includes world championship fights between David Benavidez and Anthony Yarde (light heavyweight), and Brian Norman against Devin Haney (welterweight). Rodriguez, WBC and WBO champion, with a record of 22-0 and 15 KOs, will seek to add more titles to his record. At 25 years old, and currently ranked in the top 5 pound-for-pound, he defeated Phumelela Cafu in the tenth round in July, unifying titles. His opponent, Martinez, 34 years old and originally from Buenos Aires, Argentina, holds the WBA title and has defended his belt four times. If “Bam” manages to defeat Martinez, he will only need one more belt to become the undisputed champion in the 115-pound division. The IBF title is held by Willibaldo Garcia (23-6-2, 13 KOs) from Mexico, who will defend it against Kenshiro Teraji in Saudi Arabia on December 25.Rodriguez plans to have a maximum of two more fights in the super flyweight category before moving up in weight.“The goal is to be the undisputed. If I pass Martínez, there’s only one belt left, so I’m close to achieving it,” Bam stated.
Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez
Rodriguez also expressed his enthusiasm for being part of such an important card and highlighted the quality of Martinez as a “relentless” rival. This will be “Bam”‘s third title defense in the super flyweight category, after having unified the world titles in flyweight. Rodriguez is considering the possibility of competing in featherweight (126 pounds) and has figures like Naoya Inoue and Junto Nakatani in his sights.“I feel that the fight for the undisputed title [against the IBF champion] can be made. I have Matchroom and my whole team behind me, they will make that fight happen, I have full confidence that it will happen.”
Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez
Rodriguez envisions possible future clashes with Inoue and Nakatani and expresses his desire to fight in Japan, where he enjoys a fanbase.“We’ve talked about 126 pounds, that would be the maximum, I’m not sure I can go any further, only time will tell, but I think I’ll end my career at 126,” commented Bam.
Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez
