bam rodriguez

Bam Rodriguez and Sunny Edwards Get Official Date and Location

Finally, WBO Flyweight Champ and San Antonio's favorite son Bam Rodriguez and IBF champ Sunny Edwards of Surrey, UK, have an official date and location. Eddie Hearn, as well as Rodriguez, have both confirmed that the fight was going to happen in the fourth quarter and on the West Coast. However, no date or location was official. Until now! The two will officially unify their Flyweight straps on December 16th at the Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Arizona. In the same state, Rodriguez had his star-making performance when he dominated future hall of famer the legendary Carlos Cuadras to capture his first world title, the WBC Super flyweight crown, in February 2022.

Promoter Eddie Hearn noted that "fighting in San Antonio wouldn't be unfair to Edwards" and added, "We've done well in Arizona before."

Rodriguez, 18-0 (11), is a two-division world champion, the first ever from Alamo City, to accomplish the feat. He captured his 112-pound world title when he outpointed Cristian Gonzalez back in April at the Tech Port Arena in San Antonio. He suffered a broken jaw in his otherwise one-sided victory and was expected to be out before the end of the year. However, according to Rodriguez, his recovery went well, and he was "feeling good."

Edwards, 20-0 (4), won his version of the flyweight title back in April of 2021 with perhaps the best performance in his career, a one-sided beatdown of Moruti Mthalane. He has defended his belt four times since then, including a win over Felix Alvarado, and most recently, he defeated Andres Campos in June in a tougher-than-expected contest.

Bam Scores Spectacular TKO in Tech Port Arena

Choclatito couldn't do it, Estrada couldn't do it, Cuadras couldn't do it, but Bam certainly could. The 22-year-old, Jesse "Bam" Rodriguez, of San Antonio became the first man to stop future first ballot hall of famer Sisaket Sor Rungvisai, and he did so not only in spectacular fashion but in front of a sold-out crowd in his hometown. Bam started the offense with a beautifully well-placed jab and sliding out of the way seamlessly making Rungvisai miss wildly. Showing off dazdazzling to close out the opening stanza. The hand and foot the speed was vastly different as Rodriguez was able to land with picture perfect hooks and avoid the heavy artilary in return from his That counterpart.

By the fourth round it appeared to already be decided with the only question being can Runvisai survive Bam for 12 rounds? Rodriduez continued putting the laer-like left behind the south paw jab and Rungvisai was a sitting duck. Adding in an amazing display of foot work consistently put the San Antonian in position to score over and over again with the straight left hand, right hook two-piece late in the fifth that badly hurt the Thai opponent. Another perfectly placed left hand in the seventh put Rungvisai down less than a minute into the round. A vicious rally and combination in the 8th round sealed the deal and gave Rodriguez the sensational knockout! Moving his record to 16-0 (11) and making him the front runner for Fighter of the Year.

Also on the card was rising prospect "Panterita" Jesus Martinez of Del Rio got to work right away. After sizing up his opponent, Keven Monroy, with the jab Panterita landed his first thunderous shot at about the midway point of the opening round. Scoring with a sweeping right hand that rocked Monroy. Just moments later a patient Martinez snapped his mans head back with a shotgun jab. A lead right hand and then a follow-up counter left hook put Monroy on very shaky leagues late in the second round. After surviving a scare in the third round, which saw Martinez on the canvas after a punch grazed off his shoulder and Panterita alipped to the canvas, it was ruled a knockdown, however. Panterita again stepped on the gas and regained control of the fight. The teenager closed the show in the final stanza like a rugged veteran. He rocked his man with solid right hands. However, Monroy embodied the true warrior spirit and fought valiantly surviving to the last round. Panterita moved his record to 2-0 picking up his second decision. Manager and former world champion Darren Barker gave Panterita a "7 out of 10. I am happy but there are things he could have done better" he said. The plan is to continue to keep the young fighter active and Barker suggested they could be back at it as soon as August.

Rick Medina Jr came up short in a points loss in a competitive fight with Raymond Ford.

Texas Pound for Pound List

1.Errol Spence -DeSoto

2.Jermell Charlo-Houston

3.Bam Rodriguez- San Antonio

4.Jermall Charlo-Houston

5.Brandon Figueroa- Weslaco

6.Vergil Ortiz -Grand Prairie

7.Josh Franco-San Antonio

8.O'shaquie Foster- Orange

9. Mario Barrios -San Antonio

10.Adrian Taylor-Dallas

Honorable Mention

Maurice Hooker-Dallas

Hector Tanajara- San Antonio

Omar Juarez- Brownsville

Rick Medina- San Antonio

Jorge Castaneda -Laredo

Edward Vazquez- Fort Worth

Alex Rincon- Carrollton