One of the best fights this month has to offer might just be the three-belt, 115-pound unification showdown between Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez and Fernando “Puma” Martinez that will take place on a stacked card in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Nov. 22. For some fans, quite a few in fact, “Bam” is not only one of the most exciting fighters out there today, he is also one of the very best pound-for-pound.
Bam’s Quest for Undisputed Glory
There is, and has been for a while now, talk of Rodriguez, 22-0(15), fighting Japanese superstar Naoya Inoue at some point, but first comes Martinez, and then, Rodriguez said when speaking with Fight Hub TV, he aims to unify all four belts at junior bantamweight.
“Bam,” says he is ready to go all 12 rounds against Martinez, 18-0(9), if he has to, while Martinez has, in turn, said he will KO Rodriguez. It really could prove to be a great fight.
“I’ll just go out there and don’t force anything. If the knockout comes, that’s a good thing, but I’ve been training for 12 rounds, so if it goes 12 rounds, I’m ready for that as well,” Bam said of his upcoming fight. “And say I do get past Martinez, there’s one more belt left to go undisputed, so I’d like to go ahead and try and get that belt as well. There’s still work to do, there’s fights to be made, and fights to be won. I just keep working hard and getting big fights and winning big fights. Definitely, I feel [Martinez] is more relentless than my last opponents. I’ve just got to go in there and fight the smart fight we’ve been working on.”
Fight of the Night Potential
With Devin Haney challenging Brian Norman on the card, and with David Benavidez meeting Anthony Yarde in an expected slugfest, it would be some going by Rodriguez and Martinez if they did wind up giving us the fight of the night on the 22nd, but this one is such a quality matchup, this could indeed prove to be the case.
“Bam” is as skilled as he is exciting, while Martinez is a heck of a pressure fighter. In short, there seems to be no way this fight doesn’t prove to be a thriller. Who will lose their “0” on fight night?