Eddie Hearn re-tweeted a post fromDAZN today about a mouth-watering fight between WBC super flyweight champion Jesse ‘Bam’ Rodriguez and former four-division world champion Roman ‘Chocolatito’ Gonzalez next.
While it may seem a little early for the 22-year-old Bam Rodriguez (16-0, 11 KOs) to be mixing it up with boxing great Chocolatito Gonzalez (51-3, 41 KOs), if the fight doesn’t happen now, it may never take place.
Bam Rodriguez’s trainer Robert Garcia wants him to return to the 112-lb division to challenge the recently beaten WBC flyweight champion Julio Cesar Martinez for his title, but that’s a waste of his potential.
Bam isn’t going to become a star by returning to the 112-lb division to fight the likes of Rey Martinez and the other obscure fighters in that weight class.
The ONLY way Bam becomes a star is by staying at 115 and taking on the likes of Chocolatito, Juan Franciso Estrada, and then going up to 118 to challenge bantamweight champion Naoya Inoue.
Chocolatito is 35 years old, and he’s still fighting at a high level, as we saw in his recent victory over Julio Cesar Martinez last March on DAZN.
If Jesse ‘Bam’ Rodriguez wants to become a superstar overnight, he’s got to fight Chocolatito now because this legend won’t be around much longer. Look at it this way. Even if Bam Rodriguez loses to Chocolatito, he’ll become a household name in the U.S and worldwide.
Bam Rodriguez is coming off a huge eighth-round knockout win over two-time WBC super flyweight champion Srisaket Sor Rungvisai on June 25th in San Antonio, Texas.
Earlier this year, Bam defeated former WBC 115-lb champion Carlos Cuadras by a 12-round unanimous decision in Phoenix, Arizona. Both fights were shown on DAZN and gave Bam Rodriguez a ton of publicity.
“Leave it to the fighter that made horrifying financial decisions to suggest a worse one for Bam Rodriguez. Where is the money in Bam Rodriguez’s life right now? It’s at 115 pounds,” said Chris Mannix to DAZN Boxing.
“Who’s out there at 115 pounds? There’s this guy, Roman ‘Chocolatito” Gonzalez, who doesn’t have a fight scheduled at this point. Maybe he might be interested in fighting Bam Rodriguez for that WBC title.
“Do you think Bam Rodriguez is making more money to fight anybody else than Chocolatito? No. Bam should stay at 115 pounds, and let his brother [Joshua Franco] do his thing with Juan Franciso Estrada, and let Eddie Hearn push hard for a fight against Chocolatito right now. That’s the fight for Bam Rodriguez next.
“If you want bigger arenas, who represents the biggest arena, Chocolatito. That’s the biggest name. We could do Chocolatito in San Antonio. You can do Chocolatito in Southern California. Sell out a venue there. That’s not only the biggest money fight, but the biggest name that Bam could fight,” said Mannix.
— Eddie Hearn (@EddieHearn) June 29, 2022
