Jesse "Bam" Rodriguez confirmed his status among boxing's elite with a decisive victory over Juan Francisco Estrada. The unbeaten Rodriguez (20-0, 13 KOs), who hails from San Antonio, floored Estrada twice on the path to a knockout win in the seventh round at the Footprint Center in Phoenix; his performance was nothing short of clinical, parading his dominance in front of an electrified crowd, according to Express News.
Despite being floored himself for the first time in his career in the sixth round, Rodriguez bounced back and concluded the event with a punishing left hook to Estrada's liver, ensuring the referee tallied a ten-count over a visibly pained Estrada, scalping both the WBC and Ring Magazine 115-pound titles in the process. Estrada, with his decorated legacy, including a previous reign over the 112- and 115-pound divisions alongside Roman "Chocolatito" Gonzalez, found himself overwhelmed by Rodriguez's artistry, connecting a substantial 42 percent of his punches indicating the surgical precision of his craft.
"I got him with a good body, shot," Rodriguez said in a postfight interview, recognizing the conclusive nature of that final blow, "I saw the way he was rolling on the floor, I knew that was it," he added, as quoted by ESPN. Rodriguez, at the age of 24, is not only affirming his supremacy in the junior bantamweight division but is also steadily carving his place among boxing's best pound-for-pound fighters.
Estrada, who suffered his first defeat in over six years, didn’t disguise his intentions to return stronger; "I know the mistakes that I made in there and I want the rematch," Estrada announced, aiming to trigger the rematch clause, with a view to rectify his tactical errors and reclaim his status at the pinnacle of the sport. Rodriguez is already eyeing future glory, with plans to stay in the junior bantamweight division and set his sights on unifying the titles — keenly eyeing the outcome of the upcoming clash between Fernando Martinez and Kazuto Ioka on July 7 in Japan.
