Fighter of the Week (4/3-4/9): Bam Rodriguez
San Antonio has a storied boxing history. It has been home to some of the most historic fights in boxing history and has been the home of a litany of world champions. None of those world champions have ever done what Bam Rodriguez did Saturday night at the Tech Part Arena in front of his home crowd. Rodriguez, despite breaking his jaw in the sixth round, endured on and took a lopsided decision over a very game and rugged Cristian Gonzalez to capture the vacant WBO Flyweight title to become the first-ever two-division world champion from the 210. He made his mark on history, gave another brilliant performance, moved his record to 18-0 (11), and took home our Fighter of the Week award.
"Bam" entered the ring to a raucous applause from the capacity crowd, who welcomed him with chats of ("Bam! Bam! Bam) and (210! 210! 210!) The 23-year-old from Alamo City has built-up quite a fan base in his hometown, and he was not about to disappoint. Rodriguez came out pumping his jab from the southpaw jab and was heavy on the front foot, sliding in from a litany of angels unleashing lightning-quick combinations, and then exiting before Gonzalez could return fire. For many moments it appeared a rugged but out-matched Gonzalez never really posed a threat and never stepped on the gas. In round three, Rodriguez was warned for a low blow and then went on to have the most dominant round of the fight. Snapping his man's head back with a picture-perfect left hand. He followed up with a whirlwind of power shots that had Gonzalez in a bit of trouble. By the middle rounds, Bam was cutting off the ring and forcing his out-gunned opponent into the ropes, where he mixed up head and body shots to perfection. Right, hooks were scoring with accuracy upstairs and down. Gonzalez was reduced to back peddling and sticking at his jab to try and keep Rodriguez at bay. The only question was could Gonzlez endure till the end? Rodriguez continued the push, and a picturesque 1-2 scored on the button and staggered Gonzalez. The rugged Mexican was able to hold on and survive and make it to the final bell. Where the scorecards were academic, and the San Antonian took a wide unanimous decision via scores of a much too close 117-111 and 116-112 and a more reasonable 118-110.
"Bam" is San Antonio to the core. He has established himself as a superstar in his home city, the face of the smaller weight classes, a pound-for-pound caliber fighter, and one of the few names that will carry the sport to the next era. Rodriguez has a litany of options, there is WBC, champ Julio Cesar Martinez, aging WBA champ Artem Dalakian of Ukraine. There is also the real possibility of him moving back up to 115 with legends like Chocolatito and Juan Francisco Estrada. He could also be in line to fight for the now vacated WBO belt, which will be held by either Junto Nakatani or Andrew Moloney as they face off on the undercard of Haney-Loma. However, there is just one fight that the 23-year-old phenom wants. That's a unification scrap with IBF flyweight champ Sunny Edwards. A fight bam describes as "the only option".
