Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez earns a unanimous decision victory over Israel Gonzalez.
Serving as the co-main to Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (57-2-2) vs. Gennadiy “GGG” Golovkin (42-1-1), WBC super flyweight champion Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez (16-0) faced the veteran, battle-tested Israel Gonzalez (28-4-1) at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, NV. In what was a very close fight, two of the judges didn’t see it that way (118-109 & 117-110), but the one judge did (114-113) giving Rodriguez the unanimous decision victory.
In the first round, Rodriguez started off early in the round by pumping that right jab and feinting. Gonzalez was countering with a right uppercut from mid-range, which he had some success with throughout the round. Rodriguez started to counter Gonzalez late in the round with a right uppercut.
The second round saw Gonzalez continuing to score from the mid-range, which seemed as if it was the most comfortable distance for him. On the other hand, Rodriguez kept landing a hard straight left hand while also countering with a right uppercut. The third round three saw more high-level feinting and counter punching.
Jesse Rodriguez earns a unanimous decision against the tough Israel Gonzalez.
In the fourth round, Gonzalez gained more and more confidence in this round as he was moving with Rodriguez, which took away the advantage of fighting in angles. The Gonzalez body shots started to bother Rodriguez, but Bam came right back at the end of the round as he applied a lot of pressure. Then in the fifth, Rodriguez started to push Gonzalez a little more, and the sense of urgency became part of the story in this round. With the counter body shots, Rodriguez seemed to have slowed Gonzalez down a bit this round.
The sixth round was when the range started to get closer, and that’s when Rodriguez landed his best punches. The short right hook was landing more and more. Gonzalez seemed as if the wind was getting sucked out of him. In round seven, Gonzalez gained his momentum back by moving with Gonzalez and getting his punches out first. Rodriguez continued to close the distance to smother Gonzalez.
In the eighth round, Rodriguez hit Gonzalez with a low blow costing him a point. Both men came out in round nine with a point to prove, but Gonzalez was better at a distance and landing the more effective punches.
In the championship rounds, it was Rodriguez who was pouring it on and looking to finish out strong, although he once again hit Gonzalez low. Both men gave it their all down the stretch, and when the judge’s scorecards were read, it was Rodriguez who came out on top.
