Right now, as he heads into a fight with rival 115-pound champ Phumelele Cafu, Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez wants two things: all the belts at junior bantamweight, and recognised status as the pound-for-pound best fighter on the planet.
Cafu Clash Awaits
The fight with South African Cafu, the reigning WBO champ at 115 pounds, will take place on July 19 (this surely a quite amazingly stacked day of fights this year, what with Bam-Cafu, Usyk-Dubois II, and Barrios-Pacquiao all set for the same day) – and after that, assuming he gets the win over his fellow southpaw, Rodriguez of San Antonio hopes to head right into another unification fight.
Bam, 21-0(14) and the current WBC and Ring Magazine champ, knows how tough Cafu is, but he is already asking his promoter, Eddie Hearn, to line up a fight with reigning WBA junior bantamweight champ Fernando Martinez. In contrast, Bam would have to go on and also defeat Willibaldo Garcia Perez to complete his goal of 115 pounds, with Perez being the reigning IBF champ.
But to many, Rodriguez is the best at the weight, and he may well go on to top the P-4-P charts.
Undisputed Title Nears
“I know he’s coming off that victory (over Japanese warrior Kosei Tanaka, to win the WBO belt) very motivated,” Bam said of Cafu when speaking with The Ring. “He wants to do the same here in Texas. I’m a different fighter than Tanaka, so he’s not gonna be able to do the same against me. I’m gonna be 100 percent ready for this fight. These are the kind of fights that motivate me to my full potential and make me train harder than in my past fights. Here at 115, I feel like I’m one or two fights away from becoming undisputed.”
It’s great that Bam wants to face all the other champions at his weight and is already doing so. Rodriguez is a heck of an exciting fighter, and for many, he is already deserving of a place in the P-4-P rankings. But Bam, who says he is “never satisfied,” wants the No. 1 spot. Maybe Bam will get it, either this year or next year. And of course, plenty of fans are hoping to one day see Rodriguez move up in weight and fight the great Naoya Inoe. And that would be some epic fight.
But Cafu, 11-0-3(8) and as tough as nails as he is, will not go easily on July 19. Bam says he will be at his best for the fight, and he may well need to be.
The lower-weight warriors really are giving us some great action right now.