Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez defeated Juan Estrada with a stunning knockout in a thrilling bout on Saturday night to become the youngest world champion in boxing history.
The 24-year-old had previously bounced around from the flyweight to super flyweight divisions, holding championships in both, before returning to 115 pounds and scoring his biggest win to date.
The bout started with a fast start for the younger challenger, who caught the attention of the veteran champion.
Estrada responded well in the second round and began to match Rodriguez as the fight heated up.
But the American outsmarted the Mexican in the third round, inflicting early damage.
But the champion recovered and was on the offensive again a few minutes later, with some great action from both men.
But it was Bam who had the advantage, and he used it to send Estrada to the canvas with a stunning combination in the fourth round.
An uppercut followed by a left punch took the Mexican down, but of course he got up.
In the fifth round, Rodriguez began to dominate, making things even harder for Estrada, and the victory became certain.
However, as the sixth inning began, the situation quickly reversed.
The champion hit the challenger with a right hand while off balance.
But Rodriguez was smiling, unfazed, and jumped back up to continue his attack on Estrada.
The pressure finally worked in the seventh round, as Bam hit Estrada with a perfect body shot, sending him to the canvas.
The count could not be beat and Rodriguez celebrated his victory with gusto.
Estrada then made it clear that he intended to invoke the rematch clause and force the fight to take place again next time.
“It was my first time being knocked down. It was crazy. I got punched. I've always wanted to experience something like that,” Rodriguez said.
“It will be an honor to share the ring with Gallo and go on to even greater goals from here…
“It's surreal to be on the same poster as him and it's crazy to see.”
“But I ended up taking over the department here.”
Rodriguez improved to 20-0 and promoter Eddie Hearn declared after the fight that he had a superstar on his hands.
“This young man is 24 years old,” Hearn said. [Terence] Crawford, [Oleksandr] With Usyk [Naoya] Inoue, in your pound-for-pound list, you might want to mention the three special letters: “Bam.”
“Bam Rodriguez is a pound-for-pound star. The future is incredibly bright.”
With this win, Rodriguez is expected to skyrocket up the pound-for-pound rankings.
The rising star was already ranked ninth in boxing, but now has the potential to move into the top five or six.
“It seems to me like Bam will move up one or more spots in The Ring's pound-for-pound rankings,” Ring editor-in-chief Douglas Fisher said after the fight.
The next few days will tell us where the evaluation committee places him.
