Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez is at the point even at the tender age of 24 when he no longer has to be a warm-up act to any other fighter.
Ranked in the top five of most pound-for-pound lists, coming off a main-event knockout of distinguished veteran and two-division champion Juan Francisco Estrada in June and pursuing unifications and fellow titleholders in each fight, Rodriguez, 20-0 (13 KOs), is set to return to action Saturday in Philadelphia.
And while it’s not precisely the way his career path is likely to play out from here on, Rodriguez will meet Mexico’s veteran WBC interim junior bantamweight titleholder Pedro Guevara, 42-4-1 (22 KOs), to fulfill his duties and stay busy.
“If it were up to Bam, he probably would have waited because he wants the fights that mean something, that make sense,” said Robert Garcia, Rodriguez’s trainer.
“So we told him, ‘If we don’t do this mandatory, the WBC may put you as a champion in recess.’ Guevara’s a Mexican kid and interim champion … and now we’re waiting until next year. It was not a fight that even I wanted. … We don’t need to be on the undercard of [Jaron] ‘Boots’ Ennis. In Philadelphia. It doesn’t make any sense. But Matchroom didn’t have another date. So we took it on.”
Not much about this DAZN-streamed, Matchroom-promoted card is compelling if the conversation were only about matchups.
Philadelphia’s Ennis, 32-0 (29 KOs), is being forced into a mandatory welterweight title defense by the IBF even after sweeping the scorecards against the same opponent, Karen Chukhadzhian, in January 2023.
And Rodriguez admits he feels he has become the antidote for rugged veteran junior bantamweights after previously defeating former world titleholders Carlos Cuadras, Srisaket Sor Rungvisai and Estrada before getting to the 35-year-old Guevara.
“For him, it’s his last opportunity, so he’s going to come very strong and very motivated,” Rodriguez told BoxingScene as he completed as training session recently at Garcia’s training camp in Riverside, California. “But I’m at the top of my game right now. I don’t see anyone beating me.”
“This is just another fight for me. I’m taking it as serious as any other fight. Any opponent they throw at me now is just another fight. I know some will be more dangerous than the others, but I’m ready for them all.”
A dedicated student of the sport and relentless worker, Rodriguez opted to strike a three-fight extension with Matchroom while pushing for a promise that each fight would be a junior bantamweight title unification.
Weeks ago, it seemed that was a position that could allow Rodriguez to realize his dream of becoming an undisputed champion in just two fights.
Yet the division has undergone a transformation since, with Argentina’s Fernando Martinez vacating his IBF belt to pursue a WBA title rematch versus former titlist Kazuyto Ioka of Japan and new WBO belt holder Phumelele Cafu upsetting former titleholder Kosei Tanaka in October.
The IBF still has to crown its replacement champion. Cafu will likely avoid someone as skilled as Rodriguez in his first title defenses. And Martinez and Ioka still need to stage their rematch.
“Things happen,” Rodriguez said. “We have to take care of our mandatory and then go on to bigger fights. [The division] has changed up a lot, but the end goal is still the same – to beat everyone and get all the belts. The way the division’s set up, [becoming undisputed] can happen. It’s something I want to accomplish.”
It might not be worth the wait, trainer Garcia admitted, especially as bigger fights beckon.
One could be former four-division champion Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez, who helped prepare Rodriguez for Estrada through three rugged eight-round sessions.
While Rodriguez and Gonzalez’s Japanese promoter Akihiko Honda have asked the promotional teammates not to fight each other, Rodriguez’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, has said he would like the bout to occur. As would Garcia.
There is a Feb. 22 open date in Saudi Arabia that could accommodate the bout.
“Mr. Honda doesn’t want them to fight,” Garcia said. “But he can’t stop him from challenging us, and he can’t stop ‘Bam’ from saying, if there’s no unification available, ‘I want Chocolatito.’”
Rodriguez knows there seems to be speculation simmering around his name continually given the interest in his progress. He has heard of the “Chocolatito” whispers and says this:
“I wait for the call. When I get the call, I come out here to Riverside and start getting ready,” Rodriguez said. “There’s bigger fights that are ahead. If [‘Chocolatito’] happens, I don’t mind it.”
Garcia also foresees a late 2025 or early 2026 date for Rodriguez against current bantamweight titleholder Junto Nakatani, and perhaps a date three years away against undisputed junior featherweight champion Naoya Inoue.
“‘Bam’ will be 27, right in his prime,” Garcia said. “Big fights – that’s all he wants.”
Until then, Rodriguez has reported to Philadelphia, fighting under another titleholder for the first time since he was under Saul “Canelo” Alvarez.
“I’ve known Boots before we were ever pros. … This says a lot about Boots’ star potential. One day, he’ll be one of the pound-for-pound greats,” Rodriguez said.
He should know. At 24, Rodriguez already is one.
Lance Pugmire is BoxingScene’s senior U.S. writer and an assistant producer for ProBox TV. Pugmire has covered boxing since the early 2000s, first at the Los Angeles Times and then at The Athletic and USA Today. He won the Boxing Writers’ Association of America’s Nat Fleischer Award in 2022 for career excellence.