BoxingScene Round Table: Takeaway From Estrada-Rodriguez

On Saturday at the Footprint Center in Phoenix, the main event featured 230 pounds of pure badassery – in this case, divided between two men. Future Hall of Famer “El Gallo” Juan Francisco Estrada, 34, sent rising star Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez, 24, to the canvas for the first time in his career. Rodriguez answered back with a seventh-round knockout – a literal and figurative gut punch heard ‘round the boxing world. The action throughout was superlative.

The moment felt like a passing of the torch, but was that the night’s most resonant subtext? We asked our BoxingScene staff to consider and then weigh in with their key takeaway from the outcome of Saturday’s superfight.

Tris Dixon: Hard to narrow it down to just one, so I won’t. But firstly, there seems to always be one “out there” scorecard every week, and it has happened again with Javier Camacho, who had Estrada up at the time of the stoppage. Secondly, I’m amazed at someone like “Bam” being so risk-averse in every way. He parks with no handbrake. Finally, the smile when he was dropped revealed so much about his competitive spirit. We knew he had that from the matches he has taken, but his appetite for battle looks remarkable and is wonderfully refreshing.

Lance Pugmire: With apologies to a legend, Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez deserves to be let free to explore all that is before him in this beautiful, merciless sport. Yes, veteran two-division champion Juan Francisco Estrada had the cache to demand a rematch clause and he said there are things he could do differently to win a second fight.

Sorry, the eye test by the rest of us says otherwise.

Rodriguez dominated Estrada throughout, backing him with power blows and out-maneuvering him with sublime footwork. It was reprehensible that judge Robert Tapper had the bout even at the time of Rodriguez’s seventh-round knockout victory, delivered by body blow. And perhaps it was something worse that Mexico judge Javier Camacho had it 57-56 for his countryman Estrada when the former champion was left writhing in pain and rolling on the canvas as the fight was waved off.

The questions have been answered. The matter has been settled. Bam Rodriguez is now on his way to the top five of the sport’s pound-for-pound list. He’s done with Estrada and on to the work of unifying the division, with a distant eye, perhaps, on Japan’s double-undisputed champion Naoya Inoue, who’s just seven pounds above Rodriguez.

Let’s let that train roll on. Estrada has been left downed in its path.

Declan Warrington: Rodriguez demonstrated, again, that he’s not only one of the very finest fighters in the world, but one who, increasingly, is unmissable. In successive fights he has stopped highly respected opponents to prove himself the world’s best at flyweight, and then at junior bantamweight. He’s unquestionably in his prime; a fight between he and Fernando Martinez particularly appeals.

Eric Raskin: My podcast co-host Kieran Mulvaney and I just finished recording a pod in which we both found ourselves comparing this victory to different early Manny Pacquiao wins. That’s pretty darned telling about the way this KO of Estrada took our already high perception of Bam to another level.

And what an absolute gift for boxing fans that he’s only 24 years old. This isn’t like following Terence Crawford or Oleksandr Usyk, where we know our time with them in our lives, entertaining us, is winding down. Rodriguez has more top-quality wins on his resume already at age 24 than most modern-day pound-for-pounders get around to before turning 30, and it feels like he has only just begun.

Lucas Ketelle: Bam is seriously something else. Forget about any criticism of him beating only aging fighters; that’s pure nonsense. We’re talking about a fighter who could dominate the lower weight classes for years to come, if not a full decade. What I saw Saturday night was the announcement of a star, on par with legends like Michael Carbajal, Ricardo “Finito” Lopez and Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez. Bam sure looks like an upcoming all-time great, making his mark and ending the reign of the last generation’s best.

Owen Lewis: The enduring image of the fight for me is how quickly Bam reacted to getting dropped. He didn’t wait an instant before getting up and showed no lingering effects from the shot, either, putting Estrada right back on the defensive when the fight resumed. This here is not just a dynamic offensive fighter but someone who reacts positively to adversity – which means his ceiling could be out of sight.

Jason Langendorf: If you’re a fight fan, it’s time to sweat the small stuff.

Saturday in Phoenix, Rodriguez and Estrada – bless their little hearts – showed us the way. So, too, did 6-foot flyweight Rafael Espinoza only about a week ago. And Oscar Collazo and Gerardo Zapata the week before. It could be argued that all the world’s top must-watch fighters – think Naoya Inoue, Gervonta Davis, Emanuel Navarrete – operate at lightweight or below. These days, you can’t swing a cat without hitting some dude who, come to think of it, doesn’t weigh much more than your beloved Fluffy – but also fires off 70 punches a round and drops opponents at the same rate as the big boys.

Want more? Tune in Saturday when 135-pounder William Zepeda – who leads all CompuBox-recorded fighters by a San Mateo Atenco mile in per-round punches thrown – takes on Giovanni Cabrera. And two weeks later, wake up early to watch 118-pounder Junto Nakatani whirl and dervish against Vincent Astrolabio in Japan. They, along with Bam-Gallo, are stark reminders to boxing action junkies: Go little or go home.