Undefeated super flyweight phenome Jesse "Bam" Rodriguez of San Antonio continues his rise to superstardom. He will not take much of a break. He will return on the undercard of what is perhaps the biggest fight of the year, Canelo-GGG. Rodriguez last fought at the Tech Port Arena in The Alamo City and delivered for his home fans a career-best performance in stopping future Hall of Famer Srisaket Sor Rungvisai via 8th round TKO to defend his WBC super flyweight title. It will be less than three months between fights for Bam and his third fight in seven months. Pretty impressive for fighting in an era where most guys at his level fight only 1-2 per year.
Rodriguez will put his perfect 16-0 (11) record and his WBC super-fly strap on the line against another rugged opponent in Israel Gonzalez sports a 28-4-1 (11) record and is just 25 years old. He is unbeaten in his since his 2020 loss to the legendary "Chocolatito" Roman Gonzalez. Rodriguez, who hails from Baja California, Mexico, accounted quite well for himself.IN losing a clear but competitive decision to the legend. It will be the fourth world title shot for the 25-year-old from Mexico who, in addition to the Gonzalez loss, was stopped by Jerwin Ancajas and lost to Khalid Yafai in 2018. He last fought in April at the La Paz Arena in La Paz, Mexico, and scored an 8-round unanimous decision over Misael Gracia Acevedo.
Rodriguez is perhaps the front runner for this year's Fighter of the Year and a third win in seven months over another premier 115-pounder would perhaps be exactly what the Texan needs to capture this year's award. Rodriguez has expressed interest in moving down to his more natural weights of 108 and 112 and said in a post-fight press conference following the Sor Rungvisai destruction that he plans on moving down to 112. He will, however, stay at 125 at least for the time being.