PHOENIX – Whatever boxing list there is, move Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez way up on it.
The unbeaten San Antonio fighter captured a junior bantamweight belt for the second time Saturday night, this time doing it so convincingly by seventh-round knockout against Mexican legend and longtime pound-for-pound resident Juan Francisco Estrada.
Whether it’s a ranking of best American fighters, boxing’s pound-for-pound list or the best fighter lighter than welterweight, two-division champion Rodriguez (20-0, 13 KOs) lifted himself far up the charts by what he did.
“This young man is 24 years old,” said Rodriguez’s American promoter, Eddie Hearn. “When you mention the names of [Terence] Crawford, [Oleksandr] Usyk and [Naoya] Inoue, you better mention three special letters – ‘Bam.’
“The future is incredibly bright.”
Rodriguez brought immense pressure and power punching upon his 10-years-senior former two-division champion, keeping Estrada (44-4) off balance before firing a vicious uppercut and three follow-up punches that first knocked down Estrada in the fourth round.
Estrada, who said afterward that he will exercise his rematch clause, was likely thinking of his main highlight as reason enough to try Rodriguez again.
In the sixth round, Estrada fired a right hand early in the round to knock down Rodriguez for the first time in his career.
“That was crazy,” Rodriguez said. “I always wondered what it’d be like. Now I know and I don’t want it to happen again.”
Rodriguez immediately turned the tables on Estrada, battering him against the ropes and then hammering the outgoing champion with a combination in the seventh before slamming a right hand to the liver section that sent Estrada down and writhing and rolling in pain on the canvas.
“I got him good and saw him rolling on the floor, and that was it,” Rodriguez said.
Estrada, who had previously been knocked out only once (by Carlos Cuadras in a 2020 meeting), was left to struggle to remember ever being hit so hard in his career.
“I know the mistakes I made. I want the rematch. What i need to do is to box more,” Estrada said. “I made errors. But no doubt, I’ll win that rematch.”
If Estrada doesn’t follow through on that plan, Rodriguez said he wants to unify against the winner of next month’s unification between WBA titleholder Kazuto Ioka and IBF titlist Fernando Martinez.
“Hopefully, everyone in the division wants to prove how great they are,” Hearn said. “‘Bam’ does.”
Rodriguez was also asked about one day meeting undisputed junior featherweight champion Naoya Inoue.
“I know people want that,” Rodriguez said. “It’s a fantasy fight.”
If ever there was a night to fantasize about how great a fighter can become, this was it.
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