At 24, Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez is anything but your typical up-and-coming boxing superstar.
Already a two-division champion, which includes a run to unified titleholder status at 112 pounds, the native of San Antonio has used the past two years to take apart one legend after another at 115 pounds. Along the way, Rodriguez (20-0, 13 KOs) has also worked himself into inclusion among the top 10 pound-for-pound boxers in the sport.
Not bad for a fighter who competes within weight divisions that rarely allow someone to gain steam as a true global star, which is exactly where Rodriguez appears headed as conversations surrounding future super fights against the likes of former P4P kings Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez and Naoya Inoue continue to pop up around his name.
On Saturday, Rodriguez lends his star to a unique card emanating from the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia (DAZN, 7 p.m. ET), featuring a pair of dueling main events atop the marquee as hometown hero Jaron “Boots” Ennis defends his IBF welterweight title in a mandatory rematch against Karen Chukhadzhian in the headliner.
Rodriguez will happily settle for co-feature status when he defends his WBC super flyweight title against mandatory challenger Pedro Guevara (42-4-1, 22 KOs), who is fresh off of a split-decision upset of former bantamweight titleholder Andrew Maloney in Australia.
“‘Boots’ Ennis is one of the fighters that I do like to watch because he’s a switch hitter and he makes it exciting,” Rodriguez told CBS Sports last week. “I’m a big fan of ‘Boots’ and to share a card with him is an honor.”
How Rodriguez came about agreeing to share the bill with Ennis, as promoter Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Sport pairs two of his top, young American fighters on the same card, seemingly came out of nowhere.
After a two-fight run at 112 pounds, which saw Rodriguez claim world titles from Cristian Gonzalez and unbeaten Sunny Edwards, he moved back up to 115 pounds in June to score the biggest victory of his career in a 7th-round stoppage of future Hall of Famer Juan Francisco Estrada.
The Estrada win was his fourth of major consequence at super flyweight since 2022, which included a TKO of former division kingpin Srisaket Sor Rungvisai and decision wins over Carlos Cuadras and Israel Gonzalez in title bouts. Considering Estrada owned a mandatory rematch clause in his contract and declared his intention of activating it, Rodriguez began a new training camp for the fight over the summer until a September call came in saying that Estrada had decided to move up to 118 pounds instead of seeing a second fight.
Undaunted by the news, Rodriguez decided to get his mandatory defense against Guevara out of the way next. And despite the surreal nature of being just 24 and having already shared the ring with so many legends of the smaller weight divisions, Rodriguez simply takes it all in stride.
“When I got in the ring with Estrada, it wasn’t really a shock,” Rodriguez said. “It was a shock when I got into the ring against Carlos Cuadras because it was short notice. I was watching Carlos as an amateur so to share the ring with him was crazy. [But] after the fight with Sor Rungvisai, I just got used to being in the ring with these legends. So, by the time I got in there with Estrada, it just felt normal.
“They are legends of the sport so the way that I have been able to take them out says a lot. I think people just like to watch my fights.”
For a brief moment, news began to circulate this fall that Gonzalez was interested in a fight against Rodriguez, although it never came to pass. But Rodriguez understands that should he defeat Guevara in the manner that oddsmakers believe he will as a 20-to-1 betting favorite, accepting a fight against the 37-year-old “Chocolatito” — who co-authored six memorable fights with the trio of Estrada, Sor Rungvisai and Cuadras — is a realistic possibility.
“It’s a fight that is definitely realistic but the way the news got out was kind of fake news,” Rodriguez said. “My coach, Robert [Garcia, said that if the unification fights don’t come after this then the ‘Chocolatito’ fight interests us, as well. It kind of just got mixed up but it is a huge possibility of us fighting, I believe.”
Rodriguez revealed that he and Gonzalez sparred each other a total of three times in early 2024 while he was in preparation for the Estrada clash. Asked to reveal the results of said sparring clashes, Rodriguez could only use one word to define the two-way action that took place.
“Fireworks,” Rodriguez said. “Some of those sparring sessions were the best of my career. A fight with us would be fireworks and I think the fans would appreciate it.”
What the fans have mostly appreciated out of Rodriguez thus far is just how dynamic his ability appears to be at such a young age. Despite operating in such an exciting offensive style, which has produced 13 knockouts in 20 pro fights, Rodriguez is as crafty and responsible a fighter as any in global boxing, which is why a spot in the P4P top 10 became a reality so early in his career.
According to CompuBox, Rodriguez has the best total connect (39.7), jab connect (28.7) and power connect (49.1) percentages in the entire sport. He is also second to only lightweight titleholder Shakur Stevenson in plus/minus (+18.7), which subtracts the amount a boxer is hit from the amount a fighter lands in total punches.
“I felt like I just kind of fell into my style,” Rodriguez said. “As an amateur, I was more like a come-forward fighter, like a lot of fighters in my weight class. But I just sort of grew into my style and people appreciate that a lot.”
Rodriguez is also a student of the game, which is evident watching how much he seems to add to his arsenal from fight to fight. Former P4P king Vasiliy Lomachenko, in fact, has become a major influence to him in that regard.
“[It’s] the footwork,” Rodriguez said. “As an amateur, I would watch Lomachenko a lot and then go to the gym and start it myself on the bag. It just came naturally and, when I teamed up with Robert, he just took that to a whole new level. You hit them from one angle and the next second, you’re at a totally different angle. People don’t expect punches to come from that angle. It’s a very hard style to deal with but naturally it came to me and I’m blessed for that.”
The fact that Rodriguez doesn’t hesitate when asked if he ever desires a superfight against Inoue, a four-division champion who has reached undisputed status in two weight classes and currently competes at 122 pounds, speaks to how badly he desires to be great. Rodriguez said he could eventually see himself competing as high as 126 or maybe even 130 pounds and has already established Japan, where Inoue regularly competes, as his favorite vacation destination with trips in each of the past two years.
Rodriguez’s origin story as a boxer is interesting considering he wasn’t groomed to be a future star at a young age. Although he claims the family history of hearing that his grandmother’s brother used to box, the sport was never a huge part of his upbringing until he and the one day followed his older brother into a gym to give it a try.
Not only did Rodriguez take to the sweet science quickly, it led to him dropping out of school in the 7th grade in order to focus even more on his newfound obsession.
“I started homeschooling in 7th grade but I stopped going to that because it was boring,” Rodriguez said. “I started pursuing my career and here we are now. Don’t get me wrong, high school seems fun. But who knows if I did go there where my career would be right now. It’s kind of hard to tell. I don’t mind missing out on that because it all worked out. I am blessed to be where I am at.”
But before any future talks of “Chocolatito” or Inoue showdowns can become a reality, Rodriguez must first pass the test against Guevara, a 35-year-old native of Mexico who dropped a competitive decision to Cuadras while challenging for the WBC interim title in 2023.
“Really, I have to watch out for everything,” Rodriguez said. “He has nothing to lose and everything to gain. This is an opportunity for him to change his life and his career so I know he is going to come 100%. He is going to take what I have but I am at the top of my game right now and I really don’t see anyone beating me anytime soon.”
