'Bam' overcomes broken jaw to win vacant WBO flyweight title
Rodriguez outpoints Gonzalez to claim belt in 2nd division; Tapales dethrones Akhmadaliev for unified junior featherweight title; Ford shines vs. Magdaleno
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Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez stood in the ring for a post-fight interview on DAZN. He was cradling his new belt but the blood was visible in his mouth and his speech was a bit off.
Turns out that Rodriguez had persevered through a broken jaw from the sixth round on to win a unanimous decision and the vacant WBO flyweight title against Cristian Gonzalez before a sold-out crowd of 2,516 in the main event of the Matchroom Boxing card Saturday night at the Boeing Center at Tech Port in Rodriguez’s hometown of San Antonio.
At age 23, Rodriguez won 118-110, 117-111 and 116-112 to claim a world title in a second weight division after having had a breakout 2022 in which he won the WBC junior bantamweight title and made two defenses.
He dropped down in weight to vie for a title at 112 pounds against Gonzalez and most expected him to end matters with a knockout. The broken jaw obviously hampered his performance.
“It wasn’t my best performance. I’ll admit that,” Rodriguez struggled to say. “I got my jaw broke, I think in the sixth round or some shit. This shit hurts. I can barely talk right now.”
In fact, Rodriguez’s jaw was broken in two places and he spent the night at the hospital. He will remain overnight on Sunday as well and undergo jaw surgery on Monday, trainer Robert Garcia told Fight Freaks Unite.