By Elliot Worsell
OFTEN what makes a fighter particular moderately than merely good is the best way during which they win fights. A great fighter, you see, will win fights and contemplate that to be sufficient, whereas a particular fighter is not going to solely win fights however win them in a fashion that means they aren’t content material with a win except their opponent has been completely overwhelmed, vanquished, that’s, by the use of stoppage or give up.
Within the case of Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez, he very a lot falls into the latter camp. This could grow to be much more spectacular, too, once you keep in mind Rodriguez is a super-flyweight standing at simply 5 toes 4 and weighing 115 kilos. And but, regardless of these so-called limitations, Rodriguez doesn’t simply win fights, he ends them. He doesn’t simply beat world-class opponents; he beats them like they’ve by no means been overwhelmed earlier than.
This was true once more in a single day when Rodriguez, nonetheless solely 24, stopped trendy nice Juan Francisco Estrada within the seventh spherical, taking the Mexican’s WBC super-flyweight belt within the course of. As at all times, a win of any selection would have sufficed for Estrada, but, as is the Texan’s customized, he was decided to make sure this wasn’t simply any outdated win. Certainly, simply as he had performed to Srisaket Sor Rungvisai (whom he stopped in eight rounds in 2022) and Sunny Edwards (whom he stopped in 9 in 2023), Rodriguez wished to defeat Estrada in a manner few have been predicting; in a manner that may, on his half, require most threat but ship in the long run most reward.
This he did, too. He set about Estrada, a pure back-footer, with an aggression and depth indicative of a person hungry for a stoppage and had, as early as spherical 4, managed to drop the champion for the primary time within the battle.
A factor of magnificence actually, Rodriguez had ventured ahead behind a proper jab, adopted this with a left uppercut, which caught Estrada, after which proceeded to come out a further proper jab and left cross, the final punch doing the injury. On account of it, Estrada fell again to the canvas, shocked little doubt by each the number of his opponent’s assault and in addition the venom contained in his photographs. Already, having been surprised and put down, he knew he may very well be damage. What’s extra, solely Carlos Cuadras (twice in 2020) and Juan Carlos Sanchez (twice in separate fights in 2011) had succeeded in placing Estrada down beforehand.
With him damage and dropped comparatively early, it will have been straightforward to seek advice from Estrada’s age (34) and remind your self that he’s a decade Rodriguez’s senior. This might be no huge deal if the 2 of them have been competing wherever above, say, welterweight, but it surely normally goes that fighters within the decrease weight courses are deemed completed, or near it, as soon as they get wherever close to their mid-thirties. Whether or not that’s true of Estrada, 44-4 (28), isn’t for me to say, however he definitely received’t have been helped by a current interval of inactivity – Estrada didn’t battle in any respect in 2023 – and, even when busy and having fun with momentum, the final fighter you wish to be dealing with at 34 is somebody like Rodriguez, this whirling dervish filled with each boyish enthusiasm and serial-killer spite.
Rodriguez lands his proper jab (Amanda Westcott/Matchroom)
That stated, no one was questioning Estrada’s expertise or cleverness. They didn’t query it beforehand and so they didn’t query it in spherical six when Estrada used each to lure Rodriguez right into a lure and repay the favour, dropping the champion with a stiff proper hand. In some ways, Estrada had used Rodriguez’s enthusiasm in opposition to him in that second. He let him come ahead, he waited for him to grow to be flat-footed and sq. on, after which he exploded with a sudden double-jab, right-hand mixture which stung Rodriguez, caught him unawares, and resulted in him tumbling to the canvas.
Embarrassed greater than damage, Rodriguez sprung to his toes no earlier than he had been taken off them and did so with a rueful smile. It was, if something, a reminder; a reminder that regardless of how dominant he could grow to be within the battle there was at all times hazard lurking round each nook. He was embarrassed to search out himself touching the canvas, little doubt, however with this embarrassment got here a grudging respect and in addition a gratitude. In spite of everything, having been put down Rodriguez had no choice however to refocus and lift his sport to even greater ranges. Not solely that, with it now being 1-1 in knockdowns, he had even better incentive to drop Estrada once more and safe the sort of win he craved from the very outset.
Quite a bit will be conveyed in a smile and the smile of Jesse Rodriguez, now 20-0 (13), is not any completely different than every other in that respect. The smile on his face following the knockdown in spherical six, for instance, revealed loads about his mind-set, whereas the one in spherical seven, produced after ending Estrada with a vicious left hand to the physique, was certainly one of pure contentment; the smile of a person who knew his work right here is finished. That it may very well be seen on his face as Estrada remained writhing in ache on the canvas made it all of the extra highly effective and chilling. To finish a battle like that strolling across the ring grinning ear to ear reveals solely how particular “Bam” really is.
Estrada writhes in ache (Melina Pizano/Matchroom)
