Jesse ‘Bam’ Rodriguez-Fernando Martinez is ‘one of the best fights in boxing’

Eddie Hearn believes a unification match between lineal and WBC junior bantamweight champion Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez and WBA titleholder Fernando Martinez is one of the best that can be made.

Rodriguez, 21-0 (14 KOs), excelled in 2024. He defeated Juan Francisco Estrada via seventh-round knockout in June to become the new king at 115lbs, then defended his throne in November with a third-round stoppage of Pedro Guevara.

The 25-year-old Rodriguez is, as yet, without an opponent. Martinez, 17-0 (9 KOs), needs to return to the ring after an illness forced him to withdraw at the last minute from a New Year’s Eve rematch with Kazuto Ioka.

“The ‘Puma’ Martinez fight is just a brilliant, brilliant fight,” Hearn told BoxingScene. “And we really want ‘Bam’ to unify. Could that land on a Ring [Magazine promoted] card? If not, we’d be happy to do that on DAZN as well as part of our schedule. It’s one of the best fights in boxing. We’ll see.”

One weight class below, at flyweight, Hearn expects to announce the next fight of the WBC interim titleholder Galal Yafai shortly. It is expected to come against the first-ranked contender, Francisco Rodriguez Jnr, in May or June.