Saturday's main event at Phoenix's Footprint Center featured a display of pure 230-pound hard punching, this time pitting two men against one another as future Hall of Famer “El Gayo” Juan Francisco Estrada, 34, put up-and-comer Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez, 24, on the mat for the first time in his career, and Rodriguez fought back with a knockout in the seventh round, a thumping punch that reverberated throughout the boxing world, literally and figuratively. The action was great overall..
The moment felt like a passing of the baton, but perhaps that was the most poignant subtext of the night? We asked the BoxingScene staff to reflect and weigh in on the key takeaways from the outcome of Saturday's superfight.
Tris Dixon: It's hard to narrow it down to just one, so I won't. But first, there seems to be at least one “outlandish” scorecard every week. And it was the same in the Javier Camacho fight, where he was leading Estrada at the time of the stoppage. Second, it's amazing how risk-averse someone like “Bam” is on all fronts. He stops without a handbrake. Lastly, the smile on his face when he was taken down revealed a lot about his competitive spirit. I knew from fights that he's done that kind of thing, but his willingness to fight is off the charts and is wonderfully refreshing.
Lance Pugmire: With apologies to a legend, Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez deserves the freedom to explore everything that lies before him in this beautiful yet unforgiving sport. Yes, veteran two-division champion Juan Francisco Estrada has the wherewithal to demand a rematch clause and says there are things he could do differently to win the second bout.
Sorry, but upon visual inspection by all of us, this doesn't seem to be the case.
Rodriguez dominated Estrada from start to finish, backing him up with powerful strikes and outwitting him with superior footwork. Referee Robert Tapper was reprehensible for calling the bout when a body blow earned Rodriguez a seventh-round knockout victory. And perhaps even worse, Mexican referee Javier Camacho awarded the bout 57-56 to his compatriot Estrada, even as the bout was stopped and the former champion writhed in pain and slumped to the canvas.
Question answered. Problem solved. Bam Rodriguez is now gunning for a place in the top five of boxing's pound-for-pound rankings. With his bout with Estrada over, he'll be looking to unify the weight classes, perhaps even targeting Naoya Inoue, the two-time unbeaten champion from Japan who is just seven pounds above Rodriguez, from afar.
Keep the train running. Estrada was left in the path of the train.
Declan Warrington: Rodriguez has once again proven that he is not only one of the best fighters in the world, but increasingly one to watch. He has defeated highly respected opponents in a string of bouts and established himself as the best in the world at flyweight and junior bantamweight. There is no doubt that he is at the peak of his game, and a bout with Fernando Martinez would be particularly intriguing.
Eric Raskin: My podcast co-host Kieran Mulvaney and I just finished recording a podcast comparing this win to Manny Pacquiao’s earlier victories, and it really says a lot that Estrada’s KO took our already high opinion of Bam to another level.
And the fact that he's only 24 is a real gift to boxing fans. This isn't like following Terence Crawford or Oleksandr Usyk; you have less and less time in your life to watch and enjoy their fights. At 24, Rodriguez has already recorded more top-tier wins than most modern pound-for-pounders achieve by the time they hit 30, and it feels like he's just getting started.
Lucas Keter: Bam is truly amazing. Forget the criticism that he can only beat older fighters. That is complete nonsense. We are talking about a fighter who can dominate lower weight classes for years, even decades to come. What I saw on Saturday night was the birth of a star who can rival legendary fighters like Michael Carvajal, Ricardo “Finito” Lopez, and Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez. Bam is arguably the next great fighter who will end an era of the best fighters of the last generation and make his mark.
Owen Lewis: What I'll never forget about this fight is how quickly Bam reacted after being knocked down. He didn't wait a second to get up, didn't even linger on the blow, and put Estrada back on the defensive when the fight resumed. He's not just a dynamic offensive fighter, he's also a fighter who responds positively to adversity, which means his limits may never be known.
Jason Langendorff: If you're a martial arts fan, it's time to pay attention to the little things.
On Saturday in Phoenix, Rodriguez and Estrada (thank goodness for their little hearts) showed us the way. About a week ago, 6-foot flyweight Rafael Espinoza showed us the way. And the week before that, Oscar Collazo and Gerardo Zapata. It's fair to say that the best fighters in the world, including Naoya Inoue, Gervonta Davis and Emmanuel Navarrete, are fighting at lightweight or lower. These days, you can swing a cat and, if you think about it, hit a guy who weighs almost the same as your beloved Fluffy, but he's also throwing 70 punches a round and knocking out opponents at the same rate as the big guys.
Want to know more? On Saturday, 135-pounder William Cepeda, who leads the San Mateo Atenco Mile in punches thrown per round among Compubox-recorded fighters, takes on Giovanni Cabrera. And in two weeks, get up early to watch 118-pounder Junto Nakatani take on Vincent Astrolabio in Japan. Along with Van Gallo, they give boxing action fanatics a stern warning: “Take it easy or go home.”
