On Saturday, December 23rd, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will host a boxing card that is one of the biggest in recent memory. The aptly named “Day of Reckoning” features a stacked card with co-featured heavyweight bouts of Anthony Joshua facing Otto Wallin and Deontay Wilder taking on Joseph Parker. Daniel Dubois will face off against Jarrell Miller in an intriguing heavyweight battle. The only two bouts on the card that will not be in the heavyweight division will be title bouts. Dmitri Bivol will defend his light heavyweight championship against Lyndon Arthur. Jai Opetaia of Australia will defend his IBF cruiserweight title when he takes on Ellis Zorro.
Joshua and Wilder, the two headliners of the card, have agreed to face off against one another on March 9th in Saudi Arabia. That fight date will go off on the condition that Joshua and Wilder emerge from their bouts on Saturday with no injuries to themselves or their records. Ironically, this December 23rd date was to feature Tyson Fury vs. Oleksandr Usyk in their long-awaited undisputed heavyweight championship clash. However, Francis Ngannou did not get the memo about his September fight with Fury being an exhibition, and with Fury’s additional recovery time, Fury-Usyk will take place on February 17th. But boxing chiefs in Saudi Arabia still had the December 23rd date, and the “Day of Reckoning” was born.
This past Saturday, over 8,000 miles away in Glendale, Arizona, the 5’ 3” Sunny Edwards (20-1, 4 KO) and 5’4” Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez (19-0, 12 KO), each of whom weighed in below the flyweight limit of 112 pounds the night before the fight, put on a heavy, weighty, show of their own. Bam Rodriguez won via a technical knockout following the ninth round to add the IBF flyweight championship to his WBO version of the title. Edwards made a good account of himself, but Bam was just too powerful, and he eventually wore his British foe down. The 23-year-old Rodriguez may move back up to 115 pounds, a weight he has previously held a world title in, where future Hall of Famer Juan Francisco Estrada (44-3, 28 KO) could provide “Bam” Rodriguez with another stiff test.
The lack of buzz or mainstream attention for the Rodriguez vs. Edwards fight in the lead-up was interesting. Sunny Edwards and “Bam” Rodriguez were young, undefeated titlists who were among the top fighters in boxing. Both men are exciting fighters, and Saturday’s fight proved no exception. Gervonta Davis vs. Ryan Garcia fought this summer under similar circumstances, though the contracted weight was 25 pounds above their flyweight counterparts. A narrative surrounding Rodriguez vs. Edwards was there for the telling; both men have older brothers who became champions before their younger siblings, Charlie Edwards and Joshua Franco. Sunny Edwards’ personality is compelling; he threatened to withdraw from the fight if he did not receive the courtside Phoenix Suns tickets he had been promised (a move I respect). Did I mention two world championships were on the line?
Unsurprisingly, the NFL dominated Saturday’s sports zeitgeist, even with the six teams making up the three matchups trotting out four backup quarterbacks. “Bam” Rodriguez’s victory was likely not even boxing’s most discussed event this weekend. Social media person Jake Paul had an impressive first-round knockout of Andre August. Although before Friday, I thought “Andre August” was an obscure social media challenge or something. Unfortunately, at least part of the lack of attention the flyweight division receives is due to the competitors’ small size. The adage that a good big man beats a good little man also applies to promotion, finances, and commercial appeal.
Before Saturday’s title unification clash with Bam Rodriguez, Sunny Edwards laid out what he was fighting for. “It’s probably nothing less than what I deserve. If anything, what I’ve done in the ring, if you do what I’ve done in the ring … and you put that at any other weight apart from flyweight, I’m probably a superstar.” During the press tour for Edwards-Rodriguez, promoter Eddie Hearn was discussing why big fights seem to be easier to make at the lower weight classes and said the quiet part out loud: “[Flyweight] is a division that’s been historically littered with Mexican fighters or Asian fighters. […] You’re also blessed with the fact that one of the reasons you get so many great fights in this division, they do make less money than the bigger weights. So, you still have to pay them great money for the fights, but it’s not as much as you’d have to pay a middleweight or a lightweight or a heavyweight.”
This financial disparity is apparent to the boxing consumer. While both the Edwards-Rodriguez card and the “Day of Reckoning” card were available on DAZN, the two events were at different price points. The Edwards-Rodriguez card was available to watch as part of a base DAZN subscription, but for the “Day of Reckoning” card, being a subscriber to DAZN only allows you the privilege to pay another $39.99 to get the heavyweight card in all its glory. This phenomenon is not heavyweight-exclusive. DAZN had the same pay-per-view price structure for the Devin Haney vs. Regis Prograis lightweight championship fight earlier in December. I suppose DAZN felt guilty and had to revive the pay-per-view after they killed the pay-per-view a few years ago.
But financial realities are what they are. From an aesthetic standpoint, matches in lower-weight classes can be more entertaining because fighters can throw 90-100 punches per round without expending all their energy. Of course, a battle between heavyweights is exciting because any single blow can potentially end the fight, keeping fans on the edge of their seats. There are pros and cons to fights in any division. Heavyweight clashes can be sporadic in action with too much clinching. While in the lower weights, an overmatched fighter can explore every inch of the ring to the point that you can forget the object of a boxing match is to land punches.
The way society and media culture function these days, a massive heavyweight knockout will generate more attention than a flyweight or a lightweight masterfully outboxing an opponent for a twelve-round decision victory. Is that a recent development, though? Mike Tyson took the boxing world by storm before TikTok. A masterclass in technique is enthralling, but it does not get the engagement on YouTube that a montage of knockouts does.
So, should Bam Rodriguez hit the weights and try to end every fight within the first two rounds to get more mainstream attention? Of course not. Rodriguez is a superstar of his merit; the level of attention he does or does not receive should not concern him. Just like fighters in lower weight classes deserve more recognition, heavyweights should not get dismissed as untalented or condemned for winning the genetic lottery. It is okay to enjoy a more technical contest between two flyweights or two lightweights while relishing an old-fashioned slugfest between two heavyweights.
When Saudi Arabia’s heavyweight card is underway this weekend, and Anthony Joshua vs. Deontay Wilder gets all the headlines and buzz as 2023 ends, remember to take time to appreciate boxing’s next superstar, Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez, the Lord of the Flyweights.
