BY JAKE DONOVAN
December 16, 2023
Source: Boxing Scene
Photo Source: Boxing Scene
Jesse ‘Bam’ Rodriguez fell to the canvas and wept in joy after a statement-making performance in a perceived pick-‘em fight.
The unbeaten San Antonio native brilliantly neutralized one of the sport’s defensive fighters in Sunny Edwards, whom he stopped after nine rounds. Rodriguez scored a knockdown in the closing seconds of the ninth and forced a corner stoppage in between rounds nine and ten to unify the IBF and WBO flyweight titles Saturday evening at Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Arizona.
“Excuse my language but it’s fuckin’ badass,” Rodriguez told DAZN’s Chris Mannix after he came up aces in the highly anticipated unification bout. “It’s badass as fuck. I worked my ass off for this. I knew it was gonna come. It was just a matter of time.”
The vision by Matchroom Sport chairman Eddie Hearn to fully unify the flyweight division was delayed by a few months due to Rodriguez’s rough return to the weight.
The sport’s youngest active titleholder vacated his WBC junior bantamweight belt to take a run at flyweight. Rodriguez won the WBO title in a twelve-round, unanimous decision over Cristian Gonzalez but spent the last six rounds of their April 8 clash with a broken jaw to accomplish the feat in his San Antonio hometown.
By that point, Edwards signed with Matchroom with the main intention to land the unification bouts that previously eluded his brilliant career.
Rodriguez eventually healed up in time to sign for the fight earlier this summer. The trash talk was plentiful but both came to fight and back up their words once the opening bell sounded for their DAZN main event in the greater Phoenix area.
Rodriguez used his jab to minimize Edwards’ movement and set up his straight left hands. His best moment came midway through the round when the San Antonio native connected with a left to the midsection. Edwards frequently complained to referee Chris Flores of low blows that appeared to land on the beltline but also found success with his left hook around Rodriguez’s high guard.
Edwards was forced to contend with swelling under his left eye in round two. Rodriguez connected with a straight right hand upstairs—immediately after a body shot—that appeared to do the damage. Edwards earlier connected with a right hand and also landed a check hook. Rodriguez continued to beat the Brit to the punch with his jab.
“From about the second round, I couldn’t really see out of my left eye,” admitted Edwards, who was gracious and congratulatory in defeat. “It made it very hard to get away from his lead hand. Jesse’s a hell of a fighter. I knew that before the fight. I knew that during the fight and I sure as hell know that after the fight.”
An effort to protect his eye saw Edwards turn to southpaw in round three. He enjoyed offensive success from both stances, as he landed a right hand at close quarters and later slammed home a straight left on Rodriguez’s jaw. The pro-Rodriguez crowd booed as Edwards tied up on the inside and attempted to make it a grueling affair.
Edwards enjoyed his best round to that point of the fight in the fourth. Rodriguez struggled for the first time to contend with the Brit’s increased movement, though Edwards always remained in range to land clean, straight shots. His most impressive moment came when he caught Rodriguez with a straight left after he immediately switched to southpaw.
Rodriguez rode out a straight left to the chin and connected with a left of his own in round five. It was followed by a digging body shot for Rodriguez, who was urged by his corner—Robert Garcia Sr. and Jr.—to block and counter rather than react to Edwards’ shots.
A different approach was taken by Rodriguez, who briefly rocked Edwards early in round six. Edwards quickly regained his composure and invested more than what he has always insisted to be underrated power.
Rodriguez had Edwards hurt both early and late in a dominant round six. Rodriguez jumped out to an early lead and later had his fellow unbeaten titlist pinned along the ropes as he unloaded with power shots. A rare lapse in focus saw Rodriguez stick out his tongue and taunt Edwards, who caught the southpaw and drove him to the ropes in the closing seconds of an entertaining frame.
It was hardly a momentum shift for Edwards, who poured blood in round seven from cuts under his left eye and along the inside of his right eye. Concern was expressed by referee Chris Flores at the end of the round but a brief examination by the ringside physician provided a clean bill of health.
Rodriguez had other ideas in mind. The 23-year-old southpaw was relentless in his attack in the eighth and ninth rounds. Rodriguez took advantage of the lack of Edwards’ mobility and loaded up on his power shots. None was ever more potent than a left hand at the end of round nine to send Edwards to the canvas for the first time as a pro. The sequence was set up by a right to the body before the left crashed home up top.
Edwards bravely peeled himself off the canvas and made it out of the round but was not permitted to throw another punch. Grant Smith, Edwards’ lifelong head trainer, informed the referee that their charge was done for the night.
“After about the ninth round, I couldn’t really see out of both eyes,” admitted Edwards (20-1, 4KOs), whose IBF title reign ended after four successful defenses. “Look, Grant’s had me since I was eight years old. If he’s saying he couldn’t let this keep going, then I can’t. I didn’t feel like I was hurt in there. It was just, I couldn’t see out my left or right eye.
Rodriguez fell to the canvas, overcome with joy upon the revelation that his latest win was official. He advanced to 19-0 (12KOs) with by far the best win of his young career. He achieved it by landing a blistering 62.1% of his power punches—180-of-290 on the night, compared to 75-of-230 (32.6%) for Edwards. Rodriguez landed 238-of-533 overall punches (44.7%); Edwards was 138-of-504 (27.4%) on the night.
Rodriguez is now 5-0 (2KOs) in title fights spanning two weight divisions. He made the first defense of his WBO belt and added to his collection the IBF belt that Edwards held since April 2021.
“It was very difficult. He was a lot quicker than I thought,” noted Rodriguez. “He was a lot smarter than I thought. But you saw what happened. Sunny wasn’t moving a lot in the beginning like I thought. I made him fight.
“I was confident the whole fight, maybe a little too confident. My corner kept me level-headed. I knew this was eventually going to happen and it did.”
Despite now in possession of two major titles and the claim as the best flyweight in the world, Rodriguez likely won’t stick around long enough to fully unify the division. He insisted before the fight that he would return to junior bantamweight, regardless of the outcome.
Saturday’s win makes him an even greater attraction for the star-studded 115-pound division, including its king Juan Francisco Estrada (44-3, 28KOs), who was ringside for the fight.
Rodriguez was at this very venue one year ago in support of his longtime friend, legendary former four-division champion Roman ‘Chocolatito’ Gonzalez who lost to Estrada in their memorable rubber match last December 3. Estrada regained the WBC 115-pound title that he previously gave up in exchange for ‘Franchise’ champion designation, and which Rodriguez won in a twelve-round decision over Carlos Cuadras last February in Phoenix.
Two defenses followed before Rodriguez vacated the WBC title to instead campaign at flyweight. Two fights and two more belts later, he’s now on a mission to reclaim his first baby.
“I’ve been wanting that fight with Estrada,” insisted Rodriguez. “Even when I was at 115, I was calling him out already. Why not make it happen now?”
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