Rodriguez Wins a Second Title; Tapales Upsets Akhmadaliev at San Antonio

When Japan’s undefeated Junko Nakatani abandoned the WBO flyweight belt to campaign at 115, San Antonio’s Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez was inspired to go in the other direction, moving down a notch with the aim of becoming a two-division champion. Rodriguez accomplished that goal tonight before his hometown fans, winning a comprehensive 12-round decision over Mexico’s Cristian Gonzalez, a heavy underdog, in a Matchroom Promotion that aired on DAZN.

Rodriguez, who turned 23 in January, has been on quite a roll. He turned heads in February of last year when he turned away veteran Carlos Cuadras with a Lomachenko-like performance, becoming the sport’s youngest reigning title-holder, a distinction he still holds. Rodriguez stopped Srisaket Sor Rungvisai in the first defense of his 115-pound belt and won one more bout before the year 2022 was over, earning Fighter of the Year honors from several web sites.

Rodriguez (18-0, 11 KOs) upended Gonzalez (15-2) by scores of 118-110, 117-11, and 116-112 despite suffering a possible broken jaw. Up next, if he gets his way, will be a unification fight with London will-o’-the-wisp Sunny Edwards (19-0, 4 KOs), his IBF counterpart

Co-Feature

In a fight that heated up into a very entertaining scrap– if not quite the barnburner it was projected to be – 31-year-old Filipino southpaw Marlon Tapales scored a major upset with a controversial 12-round split decision over previously undefeated Murodjon Akhmadaliev who was making the fourth defense of the WBA and IBF super bantamweight titles he won in 2020 at the expense of Danny Roman.

The fight was a tale of two halves. Tapales vaulted to a big lead and one could sense that an upset was brewing. But Akhmadaliev came on strong in the homestretch and seemingly nicked it. For two of the judges, however, this rally wasn’t enough. They had it 115-113 for the Filipino, overruling the dissenter who was out in left field, favoring Akhmadaliev 118-110.

Tapales, who began his pro career at age 16, begins a second title reign six years after a brief reign as a world bantamweight titlist. His ledger now stands at 36-4 (19). It was the first defeat for Uzbekistan’s Akhmadaliev (11-1), a bronze medalist in the 2016 Rio Olympics (he lost to eventual gold medal winner Robeisy Ramirez in the semifinals).

Other Bouts of Note

In a 12-round featherweight match, Camden, New Jersey’s Raymond Ford stepped up in class and won a lopsided decision over former super bantamweight title-holder Jessie Magdaleno.

Ford, who improved to 14-0-1 (7), had Magdaleno on the canvas in round four and again in round 11, winning by margins of 116-110 and 119-107 twice. However, he really wasn’t all that impressive as there were lulls in the middle rounds that had the crowd booing.

Magdaleno, a Las Vegas native, scored his signature win in 2016 when he out-pointed Nonito Donaire to win the IBF 122-pound title. He lost the belt to Isaac Dogboe in his second defense and had been relatively inactive since then, albeit the setback to Dogboe remained the lone blemish on his record until tonight when Raymond Ford reduced his ledger to 29-2.

In the opening bout on the main TV portion of the card, Cleveland junior lightweight Thomas Mattice (21-3-1, 16 KOs) scored a controversial 10^th round stoppage over Mexico’s previously undefeated Romiro Cesena (16-1-1) who was ahead on all three cards (by 8, 2, and 2 points) heading into the final stanza.

Mattice pinned Cesena on the ropes and with nothing coming back from Cesena, referee Rafael Ramos waived the fight off, much to the disgruntlement of Team Cesena and those in attendance. Earlier in the fight, in round eight, Mattice had a point deducted for hitting on the break, a debatable call.

Israil Madrimov, ranked #1 by the WBA at 154 pounds, threw the kitchen sink at Houston’s Raphael Igbokwe, but the rugged Igbokwe was never off his feet and lasted the 10-round distance. Madrimov, from Indio, CA, by way of Uzbekistan, won by scores of 100-90 and 99-91 twice, advancing his ledger to 9-0-1 (6). The draw came in his last fight, a bout with Michel Soro in London that ended inconclusively because of an accidental head butt. Igbokwe declined to 16-4.

Fresno lightweight Marc Castro, reportedly 177-7 as an amateur (51-3 documented), improved to 10-0 (7) with a seventh-round stoppage of Tijuana’s Ricardo Lopez (16-7-3).

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