Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez Steps Up in Class with Pizzazz; Turns Away Cuadras

Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing was at the NBA arena in Phoenix tonight with a card that took a back seat to a Showtime ppv card in Las Vegas that went head-to-head. However, the Matchroom card on DAZN produced a doozy of a main event and a breakthrough performance by Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez, a 22-year-old southpaw from San Antonio who stepped up in class on short notice and defeated Carlos Cuadras by unanimous decision to claim the vacant WBC super flyweight title, a belt that Cuadras previously owned.

Cuadras was supposed to fight Srisaket Sor Rungvisai (aka Wisaksil Wangek) in a rematch of their 2014 fight in Mexico City, a bout won by Cuadras on a technical decision after the match was halted in the eighth frame by an injury caused by an accidental head butt. But Sor Rungvisai took ill after arriving in Phoenix from Thailand and Rodriguez, who was already on the card, stepped up to fill the void.

Although he was undefeated (14-0, 10 KOs), casual fans gave Rodriguez little chance against Cuadras who brought a 39-4-1 record and was a veteran of nine world title fights. But those in the know were aware that Bam Rodriguez, who trains in Riverside, California at Robert Garcia’s boxing academy, was a budding star and they chunked it in on the kid who closed at better than a 3/1 favorite.

Rodriguez scored the bout’s lone knockdown, decking Cuadras with a picture-perfect right uppercut in round three. But Cuadras had his moments and wasn’t deterred from pressing the action. The scores – 115-112 and 117-110 twice for the upstart – were entirely fair but the 117-110 tallies didn’t do justice to what was an entertaining scrap with many close rounds.

Rodriguez won’t be looking to unify the belt against his WBA counterpart because that happens to be his brother, Joshua Franco. But his weight class is chock full of fan-friendly fighters which bodes well for the fans.

Other Bouts

The bantamweight fight between 37-year-old Jamie Mitchell and 35-year-old Carly Skelly, sanctioned as a title fight by the nefarious WBA, was a terrible mismatch. Mitchell, making the first defense of the title she won in Liverpool, England, with an upset of Shannon Courtenay, overwhelmed her British opponent who was down twice and out on her feet when the referee halted the carnage at the midpoint of round four.

A full-time nurse in a hospital pediatric ward and mother of two from Liverpool making her U.S. debut and her first ring appearance in 15 months, Skelly was 4-0-1 heading in, but didn’t belong in the same ring with the LA-born Mitchell (8-0-2, 5 KOs) who trains under Dewey Cooper at the Mayweather Boxing Club.

In a 10-round featherweight contest, Camden, New Jersey southpaw Raymond Ford won a split decision over Fort Worth’s Edward Vazquez. The scores were 98-92 and 97-93 for Ford with the dissenter favoring Vazquez 96-94. Vazquez was the aggressor from the opening bell and the crowd booed the decision.

This was a battle between unbeatens with both fighters stepping up in class. Ford, who improved to 11-0-1 (6) is a former National Golden Gloves champion who was put on the fast track after signing with Matchroom coming out of the amateur ranks. This was his third scheduled 10-rounder. Vazquez was 11-0 heading in.

Riverside, California flyweight Fernando Diaz, who was originally scheduled to fight Jesse Rodriguez, had his hands full with late addition Lorenzo Smith, but rallied after getting knocked down in the fifth round with a counter left hook and hung on to win a 10-round unanimous decision, improving to 11-1-1 (3).

The judges had it 96-93 and 95-94 twice. Smith was undefeated coming in (10-0, 8 KOs), but his record was suspect as all of his fights were in Mexico.

Promising 18-year-old middleweight prospect Elijah Garcia, a local fighter, advanced to 10-0 (9 KOs) at the expense of Kansas City’s Antonio Hernandez whose corner stopped the contest after three rounds. Hernandez, 22, had a woeful record (6-11-2 coming in) but had won his last five.

Photo credit: Ed Mulholland / Matchroom

To comment on this story in the Fight Forum CLICK HERE