Don’t expect Jesse ‘Bam’ Rodriguez 20-0 (13) to step into the ring against Naoya ‘Monster’ Inoue 27-0 (24) any time soon.
The 24-year-old from San Antonio, Texas was repeatedly asked about a bout against the undisputed super bantamweight champion ahead of his bout against Ring Magazine and WBC super flyweight champion Juan Francisco Estrada 44-4 (28) at the Footprint Center in Phoenix, Arizona on Saturday night.
The question was posed to him again following his seventh-round knockout victory over Mexico’s Estrada, 34.
“I know people want that, but let’s be real, right now, it’s a fantasy fight. I’ve got to work my way up,” said Rodriguez.
“He’s at 122-pounds right now; I’m at 115-pounds. I’ve got business to handle at this weight class. I want the winner of Kazuto Ioka versus Fernando Martinez.”
Rodriguez was at his eclectic best against Estrada, landing shots between the champion’s punches. The southpaw challenger dropped Estrada with a left cross in round four and rocked him again in round five before a right hand from Estrada dropped Rodriguez in the sixth for the first time in his career.
Late in the seventh a left hand to the liver send Estrada down for the count.
According to CompuBox, the fighters threw an almost identical amount of punches: 368 for Estrada and 371 for Rodriguez. The difference was the accuracy, with Rodriguez landing 42% of his total punches and 49% of his power punches while Estrada landed only 26% and 31% respectively.
Rodriguez held a substantial 66-16 advantage in jabs landed too.
The judges’ scorecards told a different story to the stats. Judge Steve Morrow had Rodriguez leading 58-54, judge Robert Tapper had it even at 56-56, while judge Javier Camacho had Estrada up 57-56.
“That’s pretty crazy,” said Rodriguez when told of the cards.
“I thought I was dominating the whole fight. Even the round I got dropped in I came back and finished that round pretty strong, so those scorecards were kind of shocking to me.
“But, I mean, that’s boxing. That’s the way it goes. Good thing I got him out of there.”
Promoter Eddie Hearn added: “The Mexican judge gave ‘Bam’ two rounds, which is quite incredible out of six. It was a competitive fight, but Bam was dominating the fight.
“He came back with a knockdown. Pretty much every card’s gonna be a 10-8 with that, even though he probably won the round outside of it. It started to get a little bit competitive, but to not have Bam winning the fight at the time of the stoppage is quite incredible.”
Rodriguez may have to wait awhile to face the winner of the unification bout between WBA super flyweight champion Ioka 31-2-1 (16) of Japan and IBF titleholder Martinez of Argentina 16-0 (9), who will meet at the Kokugikan in Tokyo, Japan on Sunday.
Estrada had a rematch clause in his contract with Rodriguez that he is expected to activate.