Notebook: 'Bam' undergoes surgery on busted jaw, out until late in year
Shields-Gabriels II announced; sources: Franco-Ioka II done deal; Ramirez, Stevenson friendly rivals; Quick hits; Show and tell
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Newly crowned WBO flyweight titleholder Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez underwent surgery to repair his broken jaw on Monday in his hometown of San Antonio. The injury will keep him out of action until late in the year.
Rodriguez, who vacated the WBC junior bantamweight title and moved down in weight to challenge for the flyweight belt, won a unanimous decision — 118-110, 117-111 and 116-112 — over Mexico’s Cristian Gonzalez before a sold-out crowd of 2,516 in the main event of the Matchroom Boxing card on DAZN on Saturday night at the Boeing Center at Tech Port in San Antonio, Rodriguez’s hometown.
However, there was no major celebration for Rodriguez becoming the first-ever San Antonio boxer to win a world title in two weight classes. Instead, he was hospitalized for two nights and had surgery to repair his jaw, which was fractured in two places.
“Surgery went well,” Robert Garcia, Rodriguez’s trainer, told Fight Freaks Unite on Tuesday. “He will be off from eating solid food for six weeks. Then, little by little, he’ll start eating solid food. He’ll also be off from training for a couple months. Won’t fight until the end of the year.”
Rodriguez (18-0, 11 KOs), 23, said after the fight that he suffered the fractures in the sixth round, yet he persevered for another six rounds despite the terrible injury. His mouth was bloody and he had a hard time talking during a brief post-fight interview.
“He’ll still get two fights this year — still good compared to other fighters who are lucky to fight once a year,” Garcia said. “He would’ve fought in August but that won’t happen anymore. December will be fine.”
When Rodriguez returns, Garcia said the goal is to get a unification fight right away.
“That’s what we’re gonna push for,” Garcia said.
Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn said after the fight he would also like to make a unification fight with Rodriguez. Hearn recently signed IBF titlist Sunny Edwards and co-promotes WBC titlist Julio Cesar Martinez. The team of WBA titlist Artem Dalakian told Fight Freaks Unite they are willing to meet any of them to unify titles.
Shields-Gabriels II official
Undisputed women’s middleweight champion Claressa Shields will defend the title in a rematch with three-division titleholder Hanna Gabriels on June 3 (DAZN) at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, Salita Promotions and DAZN announced on Tuesday.
The fight, part of a one-off deal between Salita Promotions and DAZN for the card, will headline the first boxing event at the arena, which is the home of the NBA’s Detroit Pistons and NHL’s Detroit Red Wings.
Shields (13-0, 2 KOs), 28, of Flint, Michigan, and Gabriels (21-2-1, 12 KOs), 40, of Costa Rica, will meet face to face at a news conference on April 18 in Detroit.
Shields, a former undisputed junior middleweight champion and unified super middleweight champion, won a lopsided decision versus Gabriels in Detroit in 2018 to win the vacant IBF and WBA middleweight titles but she suffered the only knockdown of her career (pro or amateur) in the first round.
Shields, a two-time Olympic gold medalist, became the undisputed middleweight champion for the second time in October by outpointing Savannah Marshall on her turf in London to take back the WBO title Marshall won after Shields vacated. Shields also avenged her only amateur defeat.
“After my historic victory over Savannah Marshall in the U.K., I wanted a true homecoming fight in the U.S.,” Shields said. “I’m really excited to headline the first fight ever at Little Caesars Arena. Hanna Gabriels knocked me down in round one in our first fight and I’ve wanted the rematch ever since to settle that score. This is a big, important fight for me and will be another great fight for women’s boxing.”
Gabriels has won world titles at welterweight, junior middleweight, light heavyweight and heavyweight.
“I know that Claressa is looking for the right adversary to put on a fight of the year-type fight that (Katie) Taylor versus (Amanda) Serrano was (in 2022), so I’ve done my homework since our last encounter five years ago and I’m a much more improved and dangerous fighter now,” Gabriels said. “Claressa and boxing fans can expect to see the best version of Hanna Gabriels come fight night. I knocked Claressa down in our first fight and I intend to do the same in our rematch. Only this time, she’ll stay down.”
Sources: Franco-Ioka II set
Joshua Franco will defend the WBA junior bantamweight title against four-division titlist Kazuto Ioka in a rematch on June 24 in Tokyo, sources with knowledge of the agreement told Fight Freaks Unite. The deal is signed but has not yet been formally announced.
On Dec. 31, also in Tokyo, Ioka and Franco met in a WBO/WBA unification bout and fought to a controversial majority draw — 114-114, 114-114 and 115-113 Franco — in a fight many thought Franco deserved to win.
Ioka (29-2-1, 15 KOs), 33, of Japan, who has also won belts at strawweight, junior flyweight and flyweight, decided to vacate the WBO 115-pound title to take the rematch with Franco rather than make a much less lucrative mandatory defense against countryman Junto Nakatani, the undefeated former WBO flyweight titlist, who moved up in weight.
San Antonio’s Franco (18-1-3, 8 KOs), 27, who is the older brother of two-division titlist Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez, will be making his fourth defense. He is 1-0-1 with a no contest in his three defenses so far. Besides the draw with Ioka, Franco had a no contest with Andrew Moloney in their second fight in 2020 and decision against him in their trilogy bout in August 2021.
Ramirez, Stevenson respect
Before Robeisy Ramirez handily outpointed Isaac Dogboe to win the vacant WBO featherweight title April 1 and fellow southpaw Shakur Stevenson stopped Shuichiro Yoshino in the sixth round of a one-sided WBC lightweight title eliminator this past Saturday, they trained together at the Top Rank Gym in Las Vegas.
Of course, it was not the first time they had been in the ring together. Cuban defector Ramirez (12-1, 7 KOs), 29, famously won a close decision over Newark New Jersey’s Stevenson (20-0, 10 KOs), 25, to claim the Olympic bantamweight gold medal at the 2016 Rio Games.
As pros, they both signed with Top Rank and professional rematch could someday be on the drawing board, although Stevenson is far more advanced as a pro with titles in two divisions, a deeper resume and having just moved up to lightweight.
Whether a pro rematch happens or not the two fighters have ample respect for each other.
“I have nothing but positive things to say about Shakur as both a boxer and a person,” Ramirez said recently through an interpreter. “What started out as a rivalry in the amateurs has evolved into a friendship. It was a pleasure to train with him at the Top Rank Gym, and I wish him the best as he begins to campaign in yet another division and continues to cement his place in the pound-for-pound rankings.
“I have a lot of respect for Shakur and believe he has the skill and ring IQ to defeat anyone in the very competitive lightweight division.”
The good feelings also come from Stevenson toward Ramirez.
“I have a lot of respect for Robeisy and it’s always great to see him,” Stevenson said. “As a two-time Olympic champion, he set the bar extremely high in his amateur career.
“He has come out to my fights to support me a few different times, and I always appreciate it. I would still love the chance to get him in the ring at some point, even in just a sparring session because I’m always a competitor first.”
Quick hits
The IBF canceled a purse bid scheduled for Tuesday for the fight between junior flyweight titlist Sivenathi Nontshinga (11-0, 9 KOs), 24, of South Africa — who won the vacant belt by action-packed decision against Hector Flores in September in the 2022 Fight Freaks Unite fight of the year — and mandatory challenger Regie Suganob (13-0, 4 KOs), 25, of the Philippines, because the sides made a deal. The fight is slated to take place in East London, South Africa, on June 16 on a card put on by Rumble Africa Promotions. Nontshinga is promoted by Matchroom Boxing and the fight is slated to stream on DAZN, according to Matchroom.
The WBO on Tuesday notified the promoters of junior welterweight contenders Arnold Barboza Jr. (Top Rank) and Liam Paro (Matchroom Boxing) that they should begin negotiations for a title eliminator that would produce a mandatory challenger for the winner of the June 11 bout between champion Josh Taylor and current mandatory Teofimo Lopez. They have 10 days to make a deal or a purse bid will be scheduled. Minimum bid would be $150,000. Either side can request an immediate purse bid if they don’t want to negotiate. Barboza (28-0, 10 KOs), 31, of Los Angeles, is coming off his biggest win, a 10-round decision over Jose Pedraza in February. Paro (23-0, 14 KOs), 26, a southpaw from Australia, is coming off an impressive first-round knockout of then-unbeaten countryman Brock Jarvis in October.
With WBC strawweight titlist Panya Pradabsri withdrawing last week from a title defense against Japan’s Yudai Shigeok due to illness, Shigeok (6-0, 4 KOs), 25, will instead face fellow southpaw and former WBO titlist Wilfredo Mendez (18-2, 6 KOs), 26, of Puerto Rico, on Sunday at the Yoyogi Second National Gymnasium in Tokyo, Kameda Promotions announced. Mendez has arrived in Japan. Pradabsri will be ordered to face the winner. The card will also feature Ginjiro Shigeoka (8-0, 6 KOs), 23, Yudai’s younger brother, against former titlist Rene Mark Cuarto (21-3-2, 12 KOs), 26, of the Philippines, for the vacant IBF interim strawweight title. Full titlist Daniel Valladares is sidelined with a torn eardrum and will be mandated to face the winner upon his return.
Puerto Rican junior flyweight Rene Santiago (10-3, 7 KOs) defends his regional belt in a 10-rounder versus Carlos Ortega (15-6-3, 6 KOs) at Coliseo de Combates in Panama City, Panama, Ortega’s hometown, Friday in the main event of a card Top Rank acquired U.S. rights to stream on ESPN+ (9 p.m. ET). Also on the stream: Puerto Rico’s Derrieck Cuevas (24-1-1, 16 KOs) defends his regional junior middleweight belt in a 10-rounder against Cuban Damian Rodriguez (13-1, 7 KOs); light heavyweights Yunior Menendez (6-0, 5 KOs), of Panama, and Costa Rica’s Juan Carlos Chavarria (6-1, 6 KOs) meet in an eight-rounder; and Puerto Rican super middleweight Luis Rodriguez Fernandez (11-0, 11 KOs) faces Ecuador’s Roger Guerrero (17-3-1, 10 KOs) over 10.
Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn announced he has signed Sam Jones-managed British junior welterweight Khaleel Majid (10-0, 3 KOs), 25, to a multi-fight promotional deal. “This is a big step in my career and something that I have been working really hard towards from when I first laced up a pair of gloves,” Majid said. “I've paid my dues on the small hall circuit and I’m looking forward to getting my name out there more under my new team. The goal for 2023 is to get my name out there, have a breakout fight and show people that I’m one to watch.”
Show and tell
Three months after Oscar De La Hoya made his only junior welterweight title defense, a great performance in a rout of then-undefeated Miguel Angel Gonzalez, the Golden Boy moved up to welterweight for a huge fight with WBC welterweight titleholder Pernell Whitaker, the brilliant four-division champion and a longtime entrant at or near the top of the pound-for-pound rankings. De La Hoya, 23-0 at the time, was the favorite given that Whitaker was getting on in years and looked bad in his previous fight, which he was losing before rescuing the De La Hoya showdown with a rare 11th-round knockout against Diosbelys Hurtado one week after De La Hoya-Gonzalez. Whitaker came into the fight 40-1-1 with the lone blemishes being the notoriously controversial draw with Julio Cesar Chavez in a welterweight title defense that was one of the worse decisions in boxing history and an extremely controversial split decision loss to Jose Luis Ramirez in a lightweight title fight.
They met at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas on HBO PPV and put on a very close fight, which generated 720,000 buys. Whitaker was deducted a point in the third round when De La Hoya was cut by an accidental head butt, triggering a WBC rule (which is no longer used in the U.S.) that costs the uncut fighter a point when there is accidental head butt. In the ninth round, De La Hoya suffered flash knockdown when a Whitaker left hand caused him to touch his glove to the mat. In the end, De La Hoya won unanimous decision (116-110, 116-110 and 115-111) that many fumed over. I always thought De La Hoya deserved a close win over a Whitaker, who spent far more time darting around the ring and showboating than actually fighting — and I have always been a huge fan of the late, great Whitaker. The fight took place on April 12, 1997 — 26 years ago on Wednesday. Here is a mint site poster, which I had shrink wrapped, in my collection.
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Photos: Rodriguez: Melina Pizano/Matchroom Boxing; Ramirez/Stevenson: Alex Sanchez; Ioka-Franco: Naoki Fukuda
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Wild how he fought with a broken jaw. Tough as nails.
Why are terms never released when a promoter signs a fighter? All other sports give year and dollar amount on contracts but in boxing it is always "X Promoters announced he has signed Y fighter, to a multi-fight promotional deal." Details are always vague. Be the first writer to dish all of the details!