<\/p>\n
FRISCO, TEXAS – JULY 19: Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez celebrates his super flyweight world title win against Phumelela Cafu at The Ford Center at The Star on July 19, 2025 in Frisco, Texas. (Photo by Melina Pizano\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Melina Pizano\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
FRISCO, TEXAS – JULY 19: Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez celebrates his super flyweight world title win against Phumelela Cafu at The Ford Center at The Star on July 19, 2025 in Frisco, Texas. (Photo by Melina Pizano\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Melina Pizano\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
After dominating boxing\u2019s flyweight and super flyweight divisions the past three years \u2014 but frustrated in his bid to become undisputed champion at 115 pounds \u2014 Jesse \u201cBam\u201d Rodriguez has decided to seek a title in a third weight class.<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
San Antonio\u2019s undefeated world champion (23-0, 16 KOs) will move up to bantamweight to challenge WBA champion Antonio Vargas (19-1-1, 11 KOs) on June 13 in Glendale, Arizona.<\/p>\n
The announcement came from Matchroom Boxing, the United Kingdom-based promoter who recently re-signed Rodriguez to a multi-fight extension.<\/p>\n
\u201cNew weight class, same goals \u2014 dominate and pick up all the belts,\u201d Rodriguez said in a statement. \u201cOn June 13, I look forward to becoming a three-division world champion.\u201d<\/p>\n
And why not? When you\u2019re 26 and in the prime of your career, ranked in the top five in the world by most experts on boxing\u2019s mythical pound-for-pound list, you can afford to move around, take the best fight available, and add another title belt to the trophy case.<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
The 12-round bout against Vargas, 29, will take place at Desert Diamond Arena. It will be the fourth time Rodriguez has fought at the venue outside Phoenix, with each of his three other fights drawing crowds of more than 10,000 fans.<\/p>\n
Rodriguez was hoping to fight\u00a0Vargas in San Antonio, where he last fought in April 2023, but the Frost Bank Center, Matchroom\u2019s preferred venue, is not available.<\/p>\n
The reason? The venue is reserved for the Spurs should they need to use it on June 13 for Game 5 of the NBA Finals.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Already the holder of the WBC, WBA and WBO belts at 115 pounds, Rodriguez was hoping to take on Mexico\u2019s Willibaldo Garcia for Garcia\u2019s IBF strap, the only belt that is keeping Rodriguez from being recognized as undisputed champion.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
But Garcia (23-6-2, 13\u00a0KOs) is bound to a mandatory title defense against Andrew Moloney (28-4, 14 KOs) of Australia on June 6 in Tokoname, Japan.<\/p>\n
Rather than wait around to meet the Garcia-Moloney winner, perhaps as late as the fall, Rodriguez decided to stay active \u2014 he hasn\u2019t fought since a 10th-round knockout of Fernando Martinez on Nov. 22 in Saudi Arabia \u2014 and make the jump to 118.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s something he likely would have done anyway. Win or lose against Vargas, Rodriguez can always go back down to 115 and seek the IBF belt.<\/p>\n
Rodriguez wants to hang onto his 115-pound belts, at least long enough to retain the flexibility to return to that division.<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
So, whether it\u2019s at 112, 115 or 118, when you\u2019re as talented as \u201cBam\u201d Rodriguez, you\u2019ll never lack for opportunities.<\/p>\n
Oh, and don\u2019t forget about 122. Rodriguez would be willing to go there to meet the winner of undisputed champ Naoya Inoue (32-0, 27 KOs) and Japanese rival Junto Nakatani (32-0, 24 KOs) on May 2 in Tokyo in what could one day prove to be the defining fight of Bam\u2019s career.<\/p>\n
Until then, he\u2019ll have to settle for a fight against Vargas and the excitement of competing in a new weight class.<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
\u201cJesse \u2018Bam\u2019 Rodriguez is one of the best fighters in the world, and that\u2019s exactly why I took this fight,\u201d said Vargas, a Houston native now living in Kissimmee, Florida. \u201cThese are the moments champions live for.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rodriguez already has had his share of those, with many more likely on the way. Beginning with June 13.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FRISCO, TEXAS – JULY 19: Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez celebrates his super flyweight world title win against Phumelela Cafu…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":619624,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[447],"tags":[703,49,48,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-619623","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boxing","8":"tag-boxing","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/619623","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=619623"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/619623\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/619624"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=619623"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=619623"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=619623"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}