Jesse 'Bam' Rodriguez's Texas return is a reminder of how far he's come

Yahoo

3 days ago

It's been more than five years since Jesse "Bam" Rodriguez stepped foot in the arena he's about to headline this weekend.
The gifted southpaw was just 20 years old when he landed on a February 2020 card topped by stablemate and four-division champ Mikey Garcia's win over Jessie Vargas. Rodriguez was the first fighter through the door for a show at the Ford Center at The Star, the practice facility for the NFL's Dallas Cowboys in Frisco, Texas.
Outside of racking up his 11th win, his memories from that evening aren't particularly of the fond variety.
'It's crazy to think how far I've come since then. I was the first fight that night, and there were maybe 30 people in the building when I entered the ring," Rodriguez told Uncrowned.
'They didn't even have my name spelled right on the fight poster.'
Ten fights and four world titles later, San Antonio's Rodriguez (21-0, 14 KOs) no longer has to worry about fighting in anonymity.
The proof is in the anticipated turnout Saturday for his junior bantamweight unification clash with South Africa's Phumelela Cafu (11-0-3, 8 KOs). Rodriguez, Uncrowned's No. 5 pound-for-pound fighter, risks his lineal and WBC 115-pound championship against the visiting Cafu, who attempts the first defense of his own WBO title.
A crowd of roughly 12,000 is expected to be on hand at The Star — a 40,000% increase from the paltry number of fans who saw Rodriguez take out Marco Sustaita in the eighth round back in 2020, several hours before most of the fans filed in for that night's Garcia vs. Vargas DAZN main event.
'I think that's badass that fans are responding the way they have,' said Rodriguez, whose last fight in Texas was more than two years ago. 'We're only four hours away (from San Antonio). I have a lot of family and friends supporting me, so it's going to be amazing.
'It's a good feeling to be in this position. The last time I was here was five years ago. Nobody was here when my fight began, because I was the first fight on the show. To see how far I've come from then to headlining in the same place, it's amazing.'
Even more amazing is the run Rodriguez has been on ever since he entered the title picture.
Cafu represents the sixth former or current titlist Rodriguez will face over a span of just eight fights. He has picked up major titles on four of those nights, beginning with his February 2022 WBC junior bantamweight championship win over former champ Carlos Cuadras in Phoenix, Arizona.
The opportunity came last-minute — Rodriguez was training for a flyweight bout on the undercard when he agreed to enter the main event at the higher weight on just six days' notice in place of an ill Srisaket Sor Rungvisai. Hardly anyone was in attendance that night, though it remains the starting point of Rodriguez's rapid ascension to the top.
He stuck it out at junior bantamweight for the rest of the year. The run included his first hometown headliner, to a much more favorable review. Fittingly, it came against Sor Rungvisai, a former lineal and WBC 115-pound champion whom Rodriguez obliterated inside of eight rounds in front a capacity crowd in San Antonio.
Rodriguez returned home two fights later, again to rabid local support as he defeated Mexico's Cristian Gonzalez to win the vacant WBO flyweight title. His newfound status as a two-division beltholder came at a cost, however, as Rodriguez suffered a badly broken jaw midway through his April 2023 headliner with Gonzalez, delaying plans for a targeted unification clash against then-unbeaten IBF titlist Sunny Edwards.
That fight came later in the year and represented Rodriguez's first true grudge match — as well as the first real sign of a box-office attraction on the horizon.
The pre-fight build was spicy and often disrespectful, as England's Edwards crossed several lines in labeling Rodriguez's team and the SNAC program Rodriguez represents as cheaters. Their December 2023 unification bout took place at Desert Diamond Arena just outside of Phoenix and to a far more favorable turnout than when he faced Cuadras nearly two years prior.
Rodriguez delivered big time for his newfound fan base, earning a ninth-round stoppage to become the top fighter at flyweight and among the sport's best pound-for-pound talents. Six months later, Rodriguez returned back to the area — and to the same venue where he claimed his first world title.
The same WBC junior bantamweight belt was at stake, though claimed by Mexico's Juan Francisco Estrada, the division's recognized lineal champ since 2019. Rodriguez climbed off the canvas to knock Estrada out in the seventh round to begin his second WBC 115-pound title reign.
The biggest fight of Rodriguez's career came with the crowd to match. The memorable clash in June 2024 sold 7,261 tickets, with the crowd largely split but in full support of Rodriguez by night's end — and for good reason.
'Phoenix has become my second home,' Rodriguez insisted. 'It's where I won my first world title, where I unified [in nearby Glendale] and where I became The Ring champion against Estrada. I even became a Phoenix Suns fan. I don't know when it will happen again but I'll definitely be back there for sure.
'For now, the priority was to return to my home state. I'm grateful the fans have responded the way they have.'
So, too, is the team who has believed in him during his rise through the ranks.
'The most pleasing thing about the show this weekend — aside from the number of people [who will be] in the building — is that Jesse is finally getting the recognition he deserves,' Matchroom Boxing chairman Eddie Hearn told Uncrowned. 'He's one of the best in the world for sure. But often, the harsh truth is that the [115-pound] division doesn't always get that recognition.
'But he has this almost cult following, this quiet aura about him that draws people in. The remarkable thing about this is that he's not even doing it in his home city. Dallas is four hours away, but he's got friends and family coming in and the local turnout has been incredible."
A win on Saturday will put Rodriguez in line to face yet another reigning titlist in Fernando "Pumita" Rodriguez (18-0, 9 KOs), a tough-as-nails Argentinean who holds the WBA belt. The bout was already announced earlier this month by Turki Alalshikh, boxing's biggest current financier who secured the fight as part of his Nov. 22 super-card in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Neither that matchup nor Martinez's name were even mentioned by Rodriguez or Hearn during Thursday's final pre-fight press conference.
'First of all, it would have been extremely disrespectful to Cafu,' acknowledged Hearn. 'Look, the fight was made and announced sooner than we'd have liked, but Jesse really didn't have a choice. It was either take the fight or lose the spot on that card.
'But we just got to keep Jesse focused, which has never, ever been an issue. It's a little awkward to be in this position, but it's just more motivation to win this weekend.'
Rodriguez doesn't even need the allure of a bigger fight down the road to prevail in the one directly in front of him. His only motivation to win during his 2020 appearance at The Star was to remain unbeaten. After all, it wasn't like he could look out into the crowd for extra support.
Then again, it was motivation to make sure he didn't have that problem the next time he rolled into town.
'Returning to my home state to be in a unification really means a lot to me,' said Rodriguez. 'We didn't know what the fan reaction would be like when we agreed to this fight, just that we knew it would be a lot bigger for me than the last time I was here.
'It's a great feeling to welcome another champion to Texas and bring a fight like this to my fans.'
While all of his focus is on Cafu and not at all on the fight that awaits in November, there is one fantasy event that Rodriguez can't help but visualize.
'Maybe one day, we can take a big fight to the Alamodome,' Rodriguez dreamed aloud of headlining at the 73,000-seat venue in his hometown. 'Imagine that, going from first fight of the night in front of almost nobody to bringing out all of San Antonio.'