by Keith Idec
JESSE “BAM” RODRIGUEZ remains surprised that neither Sunny Edwards nor Juan Francisco Estrada tested him more than they did.
The unbeaten WBC super flyweight champion, who will defend his title against Mexican contender Pedro Guevara on Saturday night in Philadelphia, didn’t intend for that to come across as arrogant. Rodriguez just anticipated more complicated technical challenges from Edwards and Estrada during back-to-back bouts he won by technical knockout and knockout last December 16 and June 29, respectively.
San Antonio’s Rodriguez (20-0, 13 KOs) believes his persistent pressure prevented England’s Edwards (21-1, 4 KOs) and Mexico’s Estrada (44-4, 28 KOs) from employing their strategies in what devolved into dangerous firefights they couldn’t win against a young, strong southpaw who has established himself as one of boxing’s best, pound-for-pound.
“I think my performances have spoke a lot about the kind of fighter I am,” Estrada told Boxing News. “So, those two victories, coming off of those, those are career-defining. Those really took my career to the next level.”
Even after he dominated the usually elusive Edwards, Rodriguez expected the intelligent, experienced Estrada to test his boxing ability and take their 115-pound championship match at the very least into the later rounds.
Estrada effectively fended off an aggressive Rodriguez by landing several straight rights in the second round. Rodriguez rocked Estrada early in the third round, however, with a half right uppercut/half hook that wobbled the former champion and enabled Rodriguez to take control.
A resilient Estrada tried to go toe to toe with Rodriguez, which was proven to be a mistake with less than 30 seconds to go in the fourth round. That’s when a left by Rodriguez sent Estrada to the canvas near a corner.
Estrada got up and made it to the fifth round, yet his legs still weren’t under him when it started. Rodriguez battered Estrada for much of the fifth round, only to have Estrada remind him early in the sixth round that the cagey champion remained dangerous.
Estrada’s straight right dropped Rodriguez just 15 seconds into the sixth round. Rodriguez was more surprised than hurt, though, recovered quickly and landed an array of flush punches of his own in that round.
In the following round, Rodriguez landed a left to Estrada’s body that left him rolling around on the canvas, unable to beat referee Chris Flores’ count.
“Honestly, I really expected it to be a tougher fight, skill-wise,” Rodriguez said. “Estrada, he was a champion at 115 for many years, Ring champion for many years as well. So, I was expecting a very technical fight, but it turned into a firefight after about like the third round. So, I really expected a tougher fight, but I just went out there and did what I had to do.”
Though Rodriguez appeared to be in control, only one judge, Wyoming’s Steve Morrow, had Rodriguez ahead entering the seventh round (58-54). Canadian judge Robert Tapper had Estrada-Rodriguez a draw through six rounds (56-56), whereas Mexican judge Javier Camacho had Estrada in front, 57-56.
Rodriguez rendered the official scores irrelevant soon thereafter.
“I feel like maybe my pressure just got to him,” Rodriguez recalled. “Maybe his fans, as well, got to him. But I’m not sure – maybe that was his game plan. Maybe I did something to him to make him fight like that. But, I mean, that’s really something that you would have to ask him. I’m not sure why he fought that way.”
Edwards, meanwhile, weirdly went blow for blow with Rodriguez, too. He was a more stationary target than usual, was often beat to the punch and trailed by scores of 89-81, 87-83 and 87-83 when their 12-rounder ended at the conclusion of the ninth round.
An overhand left by Rodriguez dropped Edwards for the first time in his pro career a few seconds before the ninth round ended. His handlers instructed Flores to end that bout before Edwards sat on his stool for his break between rounds.
“With that fight as well, I really expected it to be a lot tougher, skill-wise,” Rodriguez said. “Sunny, he was a master boxer coming into that fight. So, I really expected him to dance around a lot more. But I feel like my pressure got to him as well and made him fight on the inside more. So, I feel like the past two fights my style is what made the fights turn into what they did.”
The 24-year-old Rodriguez, ranked No. 1 among the sport’s 115-pound performers in Boxing News’ most recent rankings, is at least an 18-1 favorite to beat the 35-year-old Guevara (42-4-1, 22 KOs) in their 12-round fight for Rodriguez’s WBC belt. DAZN will stream Rodriguez-Guevara as its co-feature from Wells Fargo Center, where hometown hero Jaron “Boots” Ennis (32-0, 29 KOs, 1 NC) will defend his IBF welterweight title against mandatory challenger Karen Chukhadzhian (24-2, 13 KOs) in the 12-round main event.
DAZN’s Ennis-Chukhadzhian undercard coverage is set to begin at midnight GMT in the UK and 7 p.m. ET in the United States.