Jesse ‘Bam’ Rodriguez and Eddie Hearn had a quick laugh over the feedback offered by the sport’s reigning junior bantamweight king.
Many in the sport were naturally taken aback by Rodriguez’s performance in a stoppage win over Sunny Edwards after nine rounds to unify the IBF and WBO flyweight titles earlier this month. Lineal and WBC 115-pound king Juan Francisco Estrada—who was ringside for the event at Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Arizona—was among the small few who didn’t offer glowing reviews of the 23-year-old San Antonio native.
Word of Estrada’s critical assessment made its way back to Rodriguez and the Matchroom Boxing team during the post-fight press conference.
“He always has something to say about my performances,” noted Rodriguez. “He claims that I’m a hype job and I’m not as good as people say. Why not get inside the ring with me and prove it to the people.”
The sentiment was echoed by the promoter who can—and plans to—put that fight together.
“If he wasn’t impressed with Bam, then it should be an easy fight to make,” said Hearn, Rodriguez’s co-promoter along with Mr. Honda’s Teiken Promotions.
Rodriguez (19-0, 12KOs) previously campaigned at 115, where he first claimed the WBC title vacated by Estrada (44-3, 28KOs) in exchange for ‘Franchise’ champion designation. Rodriguez outpointed former titlist Carlos Cuadras over twelve rounds to win the belt last February and then defended in a rousing eighth-round knockout of former lineal champ Srisaket Sor Rungvisai last June 24 at home in San Antonio.
A twelve-round over Israel ‘Jiga’ Gonzalez last September marked his second and final title defense before Rodriguez vacated to compete at flyweight. Estrada regained his old belt in a twelve-round, majority decision win over legendary former four-division champion Roman ‘Chocolatito’ Gonzalez in their rubber match. The bout also took place at Desert Diamond Arena where Rodriguez was ringside to watch his old title returned to Estrada.
The fight was the last for Estrada, who was previously in talks for a WBC-WBA unification bout versus Kazuto Ioka. Those talks stalled and ultimately collapsed, which left Estrada without a single ring appearance during the 2023 calendar year.
“I feel like [Estrada] needs a new dance partner,” stated Hearn. “The trilogy with Choclatito was incredible but it’s time for new fights. What else is out there? Maybe a fight in Japan. But you have a guy who has the potential to be a legend, potential Hall of Famer and a pound-for-pound fighter when he was more active, versus the new guy on the block.
“If that’s the fight Robert [Garcia, Rodriguez’s manager and trainer] wants, and he’s indicated that’s definitely the fight he wants, we will be making [Estrada] an offer.”
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. X (formerly Twitter): @JakeNDaBox