By Robert Segal: Eddie Hearn says WBC super flyweight champion Jesse ‘Bam’ Rodriguez could fight the winner of the December 3rd trilogy match between Juan Francisco Estrada and Roman ‘Chocolatito’ Gonzalez.
It would be a huge risk for the 22-year-old Bam Rodriguez (17-0, 11 KOs) because he was not impressive, beating veteran Israel Gonzalez (28-5-1, 11 KOs) by a much closer than expected 12 round unanimous decision in the chief support bout last Saturday night on the Canelo Alvarez vs. Gennadiy Golovkin III card in Las Vegas.
Chocolatito would likely beat the brakes off of Bam Rodriguez and hurt his career if that fight happened. If you’re the management of Bam, you should keep him far, far away from Chocolatito because his performance against Israel Gonzalez showed he’s not in the same league as the talented fighter.
Bam Rodriguez seemed to get frustrated with the fierce body attack from Gonzalez, who was giving him pure hell.
Ultimately, Bam Rodriguez repeatedly hit Gonzalez with low blows and clashed heads with him, risking being disqualified. Bam was deducted a point in the 8th round for low blows but continued to do so.
You can argue that the referee, Kenny Bayless gave Bam Rodriguez a huge break by not disqualifying him for the low blows because he perhaps should have.
The scoring by two of the judges was way off in favor of Bam Rodriguez, reminding some of the wacky scorecards handed in for the first Canelo vs. Golovkin fight in 2017.
Bam Rodriguez vs. Israel Gonzalez scores:
- 118-109 – Rodriguez [judge Tim Cheatham]
- 117-110 – Rodriguez [judge Max Deluca]
- 114-113 – Rodriguez [judge Patricia Morse Jarman]
The most accurate score of the three was the 114-113 turned in my Jarman, as Rodriguez appeared to just barely win.
“It was a very tough fight tonight. Israel Gonzalez pushed Chocolatito all the way,” said Eddie Hearn to Matchroom Boxing about Jesse ‘Bam’ Rodriguez’s win over Israel Gonzalez in the chief support bout.
“Also, he [Israel Gonzalez] had a great fight with Kal Yafai, which many thought he could have gotten the nod for that victory.
“It was a good performance from Bam because there’s a lot of pressure due to the hype around him. Sometimes when you’re in a fight like that, you can be a little bit flat.
“It took him a few rounds to get into it but eventually got into his rhythm,” Hearn continued about ‘Bam’ Rodriguez. “I thought Gonzalez was fantastic. I thought Gonzalez won four rounds, but Bam was too solid, the movement was too good, and the activity was too much in the closing stages of the fight.
“Possibly, sometimes you got to be a little bit careful of overtraining and over-fighting,” said Hearn when asked if Bam Rodriguez will fight on December 3rd. “He’s had three good fights this year.
“December 3rd isn’t that far away. You’ve really got to decide do you do that or do you go into a break and then come back in January or February.
“Yeah, I think they’re both great fights for Jesse Rodriguez, and I think he’s got a great future ahead,” said Hearn when asked if Bam Rodriguez could fight the winner of the December 3rd trilogy match between Roman ‘Chocolatito’ Gonzalez and Juan Francisco Estrada.
