In a thrilling fight, WBO flyweight champion Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez (19-0, 12 KOs) stopped previously unbeaten IBF champ Sunny Edwards (20-1, 4 KOs) in the tenth round on Saturday night in their unification fight at the Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Arizona.
Bam Rodriguez dropped Edwards with a left to the head that sent him down face-first on the canvas in the ninth round. The fight was stopped by Edward’s corner one second into the tenth.
B24 will be giving results of the live boxing coverage of tonight’s card below. The event begins at 8:00 p.m. ET on DAZN.
Former IBF & WBA super bantamweight champion Murodjon Akhmadaliev (12-1, 9 KOs) bounced back from a loss in his previous fight to stop previously unbeaten Kevin Gonzalez (26-1-1, 13 KOs) by an eighth round knockout. The 2016 Olympic bronze medalist Akhmadaliev dropped Gonzalez twice in the eighth round. The referee halted the fight after the second knockdown. The time of the stoppage was at 2:49 of the eighth. In the seventh, Akhmadaliev knocked Gonzalez down twice. The first knockdown came from a left uppercut to the head of Gonzalez. Moments later, Gonzalez appeared to trip, and the referee ruled it a knockdown.
Unbeaten flyweight Galal Yafai (6-0, 4 KOs) dominated Rocco Santomauro (22-3, 6 KOs), winning a ten round unanimous decision. The 31-year-old Yafai used his pressure to win by the scores 99-91, 98-93, and 97-93. It was one of Yafai’s better performances, as he’s struggled recently, making some question whether he’s got what it takes to win a world title.
Super bantamweight Ja’Rico O’Quinn (17-1-1, 9 KOs) pulled off a miracle one-punch fifth round knockout of Peter McGrail (8-1, 5 KOs). O’Quinn was getting dominated in every second of the fight up until catching McGrail with a right hand in the fifth that sent him flat on his back on the canvas. The contest was immediately halted. The time of the stoppage was at 2:19. McGrail got careless, throwing a long right hand, and wasn’t ready for O’Quinn to counter him with a right of his own.
Unbeaten WBO flyweight champion Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez will look to steamroll the trash-talking pure boxer IBF champ Sunny Edwards tonight in the headliner on DAZN from Glendale, Arizona. Bam Rodriguez (18-0, 11 KOs) has had to endure a lot of insults from Sunny (20-0, 4 KOs) throughout the build-up for this fight, and tonight he’ll be looking to get his pound of flesh.
In the co-feature, former IBF & WBA super bantamweight champion Murodjon Akhmadaliev (11-1, 8 KOs) takes on Kevin Gonzalez (26-0-1, 13 KOs) in a title eliminator. Akhmadaliev is coming off a 12 round split decision defeat to Marlon Tapales last April.
If Bam wins tonight, he’s already said that he plans on returning to the super flyweight division [115] to capture more titles in that weight class, then moving up to 122 to go after the belts.
He’s ambitious and doesn’t want to waste his career fighting at 112, which boxing fans don’t care about. That division is a dead end for fighters looking to make big cash.
Unfortunately for Sunny, he has no choice but to remain at flyweight for the remainder of his career because his frame is too small, and he’s too weak to move up to 115 & 122 to swim with the sharks in those weight classes.
Bam Rodriguez’s injured jaw a concern
“You’ve got ‘Bam’ Rodriguez, who is more of a boxer-puncher, and you’ve got Sunny Edwards, who is more of a pure boxer that is going to use the entirety of the ring to win his fights,” said Chris Mannix to DAZN Boxing, talking about tonight’s headliner between the two unbeaten flyweight champions.
“The jaw is a variable for me. Bam Rodriguez said to me that he hadn’t planned on started sparring until November. That’s a pretty short time to start sparring and then go into a fight,” said Mannix talking about Rodriguez making a quick return to the ring after suffering a recent jaw injury.”
Bam Rodriguez’s jaw could be an issue tonight once Sunny starts landing his shots, and it might not hold up. However, Bam fought with the injury from the early rounds against the hard-hitting Cristian Gonzalez, so it’s likely that it won’t cause him to be pulled out of the fight tonight against the weaker puncher Sunny.
Edwards has picked the right time to fight Bam with him dealing with an injury, but that might not be enough to get the victory. The power and the youth of Bam Rodriguez could be a nightmare for Edwards, who looked terrible in his last fight against Andres Campos. Edwards got exposed in that fight.
“You’ve got to have some level of concern about how that jaw is going to react. Bam is as tough as they come,” said Mannix. “He injured that jaw pretty early in his last fight [against Cristian Gonzalez last April] and was able to tough it out and win a decision.
“I’m wondering what he’s going to be thinking until he gets hit on that jaw and how he responds to it. Sunny Edwards is going to use every inch of that ring. He is the purest of boxers of the two. He’s going to try and move around, stick and move., and create angles for himself that way,” said Mannix.
Bam is a warrior, a young killer, and he’s probably not going to allow his jaw injury to hinder him in this fight. He wants this victory, and he’s not going to back off if he’s feeling pain. If Sunny possessed the kind of power of a Srisaket Sor Rungvisai or Carlos Cuadras, that might be a different story, but he doesn’t. He’s a pitty-pat puncher who will be hitting & running all night, looking to keep from getting bludgeoned by Bam.
“I think it’s going to be an interesting dynamic at play, but Bam Rodriguez, he got a decision in his last fight, but he’s been on a roll as of late,” said Mannix. “He moves up and beats Carlos Cuadras. He knocks out Srisaket Sor Rungvisai, and gets a co-main slot on a Canelo show, and wins another fight.
Edwards’ last performance raises questions
“Sunny Edwards has some good wins over the last couple of years. Felix Alvarado was a pretty good win,” continued Mannix. “In his last fight against Andres Campos, he got a clear win on the scorecards, but that was not a good performance.”
Campos was giving Sunny massive trouble in the early going, and it wasn’t until the second half that Edwards was able to pull away to get the win. That fight created red flags in the minds of boxing fans, raising the question about whether Sunny is as good as originally though.
“Sunny said afterward, ‘It was one of those fights. I had to take it. I didn’t really want it,” said Mannix. “I wanted a bigger fight. I wanted to fight Bam Rodriguez, then. I’d expected to do that because that was the plan before Bam had a broken jaw.’
“The fact is, that wasn’t a very energizing or inspiring performance, and it reminded me of how last week, we talked about Regis Prograis coming off a lackluster performance. We kind of dismissed it in a way that it wouldn’t have anything to do with how he performed against Devin Haney,” said Mannix.