Jesse "Bam" Rodriguez made history at the Boeing Center at Tech Port Arena in his hometown of San Antonio. Rodriguez made an epic ring walk as the capacity crowd chanted, "210! 210! 210!" The hometown hero did not disappoint. The tempo of the fight was established early as Rodriguez was relentless in his attack. Firing off a jab that landed like a power shot and mixed in straight lefts and right hooks that he mixed up to the head and body. Cristian Gonzalez, a long-rangy flyweight, was on his back foot and determined to use the entire ring to keep the pressuring Rodriguez at bay. The first punch of consequence was landed by the San Antonian, to the delight of the crowd. A straight left found its mark just past the midway point of the opening stanza. Bam continued on the front foot and would keep his opponents back to the ropes. Straight lefts poured in for Rodriguez, but it was largely one shot at a time. However, a double jab stunned Gonzalez in the second round. As Bam got off to another strong start in the second round. A straight left from the Texan had Gonzalez in real trouble for the first time with about 30 seconds left in the round. The third picked up, where the second ended with Bam on the attack. He received a warning for a low blow but then had his most dominant round of the bout. The only question that remained while going into the middle rounds became whether could Gonzlaez withstand the relentlessness of the San Antonian and make it to the final bell. Rodriguez suffered what is perhaps a broken jaw in the sixth but fought through it and continued to break down his Mexican opponent.
As the rounds progressed and the action moved into the second round of the fight it became evident the straight left from Rodriguez could not miss as he cut off the ring and kept his opponent against the ropes it's amazing at this point Gonzalez is still on his feet ba had him cornered late in the 8th but he again slipped out. Going into the championship round the fight was completely one-sided as Gonzalez is strictly looking to survive. It was also obvious that he was content with not winning, not engaging, and surviving till the end and that's exactly what Gonzalez did. He made it to the final bell but the lopsided scores came in, 118-110, and much too close scores of 116-112 and 117-111 all in favor of the San Antonionian. Making Bam the first two-division world champ from Alamo City. He also apparently suffered a fractured jaw.
Two other Texans were featured on the card. Houston-based middleweight Raphael Igbokwe challenged unbeaten boogeyman of the 154-pound division, Israil Madrimov of Uzbekistan, Igbokwe, a southpaw, moved well early and landed his jab and quick counter shots that kept Madrimov honest. However the Uzbek's pressure and skill on the inside were just too much. The Houstonian continued battling valiantly and fighting to win, scoring with straight lefts and right hooks on the inside. The battle moved to the middle of the ring, which favored the pressure fighter, and Madrimov rolled to a hard-earned and competitive unanimous decision victory.
In the night's opening bout was 18-Year-old phenom and 14x national champion Jesus "Panterita" Martinez of Del Rio in a major step-up bout. Martinez battled Queens, NY, resident Jose Lopez. After a sensational first round that Panterita was able to dominate from the outside and put together lightning-quick combinations. Lopez, bigger, older, and more experienced at the professional level, was able to impose his will to a degree and get on the inside and make the fight happen at close range. It appeared Martinez was landing the cleaner, flusher, shots. However, he Panterita was beginning to fade, and Lopez rallied in the fourth. The judges saw that as enough to award the bout a three-way draw. With one judge scoring it 39-37 each way, and the third had it 38-38 even.
