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At a time when other boxers run their mouths, Jesse \u201cBam\u201d Rodriguez lets his fists do the talking. Credit: Ed Mulholland\/Matchroom Boxing<\/p>\nAt a time when other boxers run their mouths, Jesse \u201cBam\u201d Rodriguez lets his fists do the talking. Credit: Ed Mulholland\/Matchroom Boxing<\/p>\n
\u201cBoxing is dead,\u201d those into sports that allow the savage beating of someone who is already knocked down like to say.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Without dissecting the fact that the so-called \u201cMixed Martial Arts\u201d have nothing to do with the true spirit of martial arts, or that the MMA\/UFC or whatever it\u2019s called lack the basic aesthetic richness of true combat sports and art, the main problem with cage fighting is that, unlike other combat arts such as boxing and, say, Muay Thai, it breaks the basic rule of honorable combat: you don\u2019t punch a fighter who\u2019s down. Period.<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t get me wrong: I enjoyed watching, say, Amanda Nunes\u2019 methodical chopping of Ronda Rousey, but she did it through relentless boxing combinations, not through never-ending grappling or other similarly ugly UFC techniques.<\/p>\n
True, boxing has its own set of endless holding and boring fights, but there is nothing like a good boxing fight. Nothing. And every decade\u2019s had enough great boxing champions who dignified the sport and overcame its historical corruption through raw talent: the \u201960s and \u201970\u2019s had Ali, Frazier and Foreman; the \u201980s had Sugar Ray, Mano e\u2019 Piedra, Hearns, Hagler and Iron Mike; the \u201990s had J. C. Ch\u00e1vez, Manny and Floyd. The list is endless all the way to our times \u2014\u00a0see Canelo, Crawford and Inoue.\u00a0<\/p>\n
San Antonio\u2019s had world champions before: Bam Bam Johnson, the late Pikin Quiroga, Jesse James Leija, Mario Barrios.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But none like Jesse \u201cBam\u201d Rodriguez.<\/p>\n
The 25-year-old, who grew up around Loop 1604 and Culebra Road and now resides in the Brackenridge area, is 22-0 with 15 KOs and, at the time of this writing, is ranked No. 6 in the pound-per-pound list of The Ring magazine, the legendary \u201cBible of Boxing.\u201d Only Terence Crawford, Oleksander Usyk, Naoya Inoue, Dmitry Bivol and Artur Beterbiev are above Bam.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Now, the San Antonian will face his toughest challenge on Saturday, Nov. 22, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, against Argentina\u2019s Fernando \u201cPuma\u201d Mart\u00ednez (18-0, with 9 KOs). It\u2019s a winner-take-all affair: Bam\u2019s WBC and WBO and Mart\u00ednez\u2019s WBA super-flyweight belts will be on the line.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been writing about boxing for 15 years, and over that period, I saw two young fighters who were far and away above everybody else in the sport,\u201d Adam Abramowitz, a top boxing analyst with saturdaynightboxing.com and member of the The Ring\u2019s rating panel, said. \u201cOne was Bam Rodr\u00edguez. The other was [WBC bantamweight champion] Junto Nakatani [31-0 with 24 KOs, ranked at #7 in the pound-per-pound list]. I hope they fight each other at some point.\u201d<\/p>\n
Praise for Bam\u2019s skills are unanimous, starting with that of his trainer Robert Garc\u00eda, who was in the corner of 16 world champions and has trained Bam since age 15.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis talent. His skills. His footwork really meant a lot to me,\u201d Garc\u00eda told Abramowitz in Saturday Night Boxing in 2024. \u201cBam was beautiful at what he did from day one. We knew that this kid was going to be special.\u201d<\/p>\n
Former SA world champion Jesse James Leija agrees.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s just a phenomenal fighter,\u201d Leija, who beat the great Azumah Nelson twice, told the Current at the Leija Boxing and Fitness gym in Alamo Heights.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHe just \u2026 \u201d Leija started, shaking his head as he tried to find the words. \u201cHis movement, his speed, his power\u2026 . He has it all, and I think he should be at least No. 5 in the pound-per-pound ranking.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cCh\u00e1vez\u2019s pressure was ferocious and unrelenting, but Bam has much faster foot speed,\u201d he told the Current during a Zoom meeting. \u201c[Bam] can do more things, and I don\u2019t think he has to struggle the same way [as Ch\u00e1vez] to get in close. I don\u2019t see Bam as someone who [needs] to take a lot of shots to get where he\u2019s going.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tough opponent ahead<\/p>\n
After a successful amateur career that included back-to back junior national championship and a silver medal at the junior World championship in 2015, Bam in 2022 won the vacant WBC super-flyweight title by outpointing former champion Carlos Cuadras.<\/p>\n
After two defenses in 2023, Bam took the vacant WBO flyweight title on points against Christian Gonz\u00e1lez and the IBF flyweight from then-undefeated Sunny Edwards, who retired on round 9.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The San Antonio fighter knocked out former champion Juan Francisco Estrada in 2024 for the WBC flyweight title and, in July of this year, scored a TKO in round 10 against then-undefeated Phumelele Cafu, taking his WBO super-flyweight belt.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Some could argue he\u2019s the greatest pressure fighter since Julio C\u00e9sar Ch\u00e1vez, but Abramowitz disagrees.<\/p>\n
\u201cPuma\u201d Mart\u00ednez is Bam\u2019s toughest test, and the Argentine is already trash-talking.<\/p>\n
\u201cInstead of \u2018Bam Bam\u2019 I\u2019ll give him \u2018Boom Boom\u2019,\u201d Mart\u00ednez said during an interview with Argentine radio Urbana Play earlier this year.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In September, he went even further. \u201cIt\u2019ll be a strategical fight, like a chess match,\u201d he told Hall of Famer Juan Manuel M\u00e1rquez in September on the YouTube channel ProBox TV Espa\u00f1ol. \u201cBut I\u2019m going to knock him out.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Martinez could be right \u2014 he\u2019s no bum. With a 50% KO ratio, the Argentine won\u2019t be intimidated and will throw accurate bomb after accurate bomb. In his past two fights, he convincingly outpointed former WBA super flyweight champion Kazuto Ioka in his home turf of Japan, which is no easy feat.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a very good fighter,\u201d Abramowitz told the Current. \u201cHis victories in Japan have been well-earned. I think it\u2019ll be a close fight. I don\u2019t expect this to be easy, Bam\u2019s not going to blow Puma out of the water by any stretch, but I think in the last third of the fight Bam\u2019s pedigree over time will prevail.\u201d<\/p>\n
Both athletes command enough skills to win, but they also have potential weaknesses.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIf he can reach that next precipice,\u201d the writer concluded, \u201cthere could be no stopping him.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Just like Bam, Mart\u00ednez has been knocked down once, but unlike Bam, he\u2019s been in several wars and, at 34 years old, it\u2019s still to be seen whether he\u2019ll be able to keep up with Bam\u2019s youthful energy. On the other hand, Bam is vulnerable when he loses focus for a split second, as was the case in the sixth round of the 2024 fight against Estrada.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe got caught by a double jab and a right hand,\u201d said Abramowitz. \u201cThere was nothing so particularly clever or amazing about the combination. After the fight, [Bam\u2019s trainer] Robert [Garc\u00eda] was concerned that Bam, on occasion, loses focus and doesn\u2019t always understand the threat in front of him.\u201d To his credit, Bam immediately got up and knocked out Estrada in round 7.<\/p>\n
Bigger arsenal<\/p>\n
It\u2019s an intriguing matchup, but most experts give Bam the slight edge.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think they\u2019re both going to be aggressive,\u201d Abramowitz said. \u201cBut Bam has more punches in his arsenal, more angles that he could play with. That side-to-side footwork up close is going to be very important, especially if Bam can get some uppercuts.\u201d<\/p>\n
Yes, Bam will be all over Mart\u00ednez\u2019s ass, but this fight feels like the equivalent of two trains colliding head-on. It\u2019s the type of fight with two champions on or near their prime that boxing fans crave, and it bears the scent of an instant classic and potential trilogy.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Neither Bam nor his father are too worried, though.<\/p>\n
\u201cBam doesn\u2019t care [about Mart\u00ednez\u2019s trash talk],\u201d Jesse Rodr\u00edguez said.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s Jesse Rodriguez, period, no senior attached.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s Bam, I\u2019m Jesse Rodriguez,\u201d he told me. \u201cOf course [Mart\u00ednez\u2019s camp] will say anything, they need to sell the fight. No disrespect, but I don\u2019t think he\u2019ll have too many problems with Mart\u00ednez. The only real threat to him is [Naoya] Inoue. I hope one day we can make the fight. I\u2019ve been saying this for years. That\u2019s the fight, and that\u2019s when we\u2019ll see the best Bam.\u201d<\/p>\n
To be sure, Bam will need to bring the big guns to that one. Inoue is a WBA, WBC, IBF, WBO and The Ring super bantamweight champ and holds a 31-0 record with 27 KOs.<\/p>\n
Man of few words<\/p>\n
Inside the ring, Bam doesn\u2019t let an opponent think, going after them relentlessly. However, outside, he\u2019s an elusive champ \u2014\u00a0a rarity in these times of trash talk and say-anything-to-sell-the fight nonsense.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know what\u2019s up with him, he rarely gives one-on-one interviews,\u201d a boxer at a local gym told me on condition of anonymity. \u201cHe\u2019s like a recluse.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s very quiet, a man of very few words,\u201d Bam\u2019s father explained. \u201cHe\u2019s all about training and family.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I tried getting to Bam through different means: by contacting his promoter (Matchroom Boxing), by visiting the Top Dog gym and speaking to Bam\u2019s brother, former world champion Joshua Franco (himself a former super-flyweight world champion), and even begging attorney Joseph G\u00e1mez from G\u00e1mez Law, Bam\u2019s sponsor.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The closest I got to Bam was when I showed unannounced to Top Dog and Rodr\u00edguez called Bam to his training camp in Moreno Valley, California. He spoke to Bam in front of me.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe says he\u2019ll do it, but not today,\u201d Rodr\u00edguez said. \u201cHe\u2019ll call you. He wants to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n
As of this writing, Bam still hasn\u2019t called.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can talk to him anytime you find him at the gym or doing press conferences, but he\u2019s very low-key, he\u2019s so focused on the fight,\u201d brother Joshua Franco said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Besides his natural talent, perhaps that\u2019s what makes Bam so great: at a time when fighters are eager to babble their asses off, Bam prefers to let his fists do the talking. Sure, there\u2019s room for improvement, but what he\u2019s done so far is enough to make one believe the hype.<\/p>\n
\u201c[Bam\u2019s] physical tools are all there,\u201d Abramowitz wrote in Saturday Night Boxing after the Estrada fight. \u201cHis boxing skills are sublime, but it\u2019s that final part of his development that needs a bit more refining.<\/p>\n
Ring IV: Night of Champions starts on Sat., Nov. 4 at 2 p.m. Main fight: David Benav\u00eddez vs Anthony Yarde for the WBC light heavyweight title. Other fights include Bam Rodriguez vs Fernando Mart\u00ednez (super flyweight title), Abdullah Mason vs Sam Noakes (WBO super lightweight title) and Brian Norman Jr. vs Devin Haney (WBO welterweight title). Watch it on DAZN. PPV $59.99 (subscription required).<\/p>\n
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