Notebook: Rodriguez, Edwards sign for flyweight unification
Anderson, Martin speak out on last-minute match; Martinez-Arroyo II purse bid; Buatsi-Azeez eliminator; Quick hits; Show and tell
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Flyweight titleholders Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez and Sunny Edwards have signed to meet to unify their belts later this year in a showdown of the top two fighters in the world at 112 pounds, Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn announced on Thursday via social media.
“Signed and seated,” Matchroom Boxing posted of the fight that will stream on DAZN, home of all Matchroom cards.
The fight will take place in late November or December at a site to be determined in the United States, but not in Rodriguez’s hometown of San Antonio, a source with knowledge of the plans told Fight Freaks Unite.
“Really pleased with this one! One of the best fights in boxing, respect to both,” Hearn posted.
The fight comes as little surprise because before Edwards handily outpointed Andres Campos on June 10 in London in his first fight since signing with Matchroom Boxing, the announced plan was for Edwards to defend his IBF belt and then have his second fight of the deal in a unification later this year with the Matchroom-promoted Rodriguez always the main target.
Edwards has yearned for a unification fight and this one is exactly the fight he wanted even if he has to travel from his home country of England to the United States for it.
“I’ve always been willing to travel to chase my legacy,” Edwards told Fight Freaks Unite on Thursday. “If anything, as a fighter who loves the pressure and obstacles in front of me, arguably the biggest fight in flyweight history in the away corner to unify is exactly how I would want it. After I beat ‘Bam’ the ball will be in my court and hopefully I’ll be able to bring some massive nights back to Sheffield and London.
“The only disappointment I feel is for the U.K. fans who would love to see this fight live and can’t make it over to America.”
Immediately after outpointing Campos 117-111 on all three scorecards to retain his title for the fourth time, Edwards (20-0, 4 KOs), 27, turned to the DAZN camera and called for Rodriguez to “sign the contract.”
WBO titleholder Rodriguez (18-0, 11 KOs), 23, has done just that for his first defense. He held the WBC junior bantamweight title and made two defenses in 2022 before vacating and moving down to flyweight, where he outpointed Cristian Gonzalez to win the vacant title in San Antonio on April 8.
Rodriguez fought most of the fight with a broken jaw and will be coming off the injury when he faces Edwards, a stylish boxer compared to the more aggressive style Rodriguez employs.
The unification bout was also one Rodriguez wanted.
“I know Sunny has been talking a lot but that means nothing to me,” Rodriguez said earlier this month. “Let’s see if he can back it up when that bell rings. I know what I’m capable of and I know I have what it takes to beat him. The best of me hasn’t been seen yet. See you soon Sunny!”
Anderson, Martin speak
Top Rank officially announced that heavyweight up-and-comer Jared Anderson will now face former IBF titlist Charles Martin in new main event of Anderson’s homecoming fight July 1 (ESPN, ESPN Deportes, ESPN+, 10 p.m. ET) at the Huntington Center in Toledo, Ohio.
Anderson (14-0, 14 KOs), 23, the 2021 Fight Freaks Unite prospect of the year, was due to face Zhan Kossobutskiy (19-0, 18 KOs), 34, a southpaw from Kazakhstan, but his issues securing a visa to come to the United States forced Top Rank to make the change to Martin, who is also a left-hander.
“We weren’t going to let anything spoil the Toledo party,” Anderson said. “I have a new opponent, but it will be the same outcome.”
Martin (29-3-1, 26 KOs), 37, of Carson, California, who held the IBF belt for three months in 2016 before being smoked by Anthony Joshua, is 1-1 in his past two fights, a sixth-round knockout to longtime contender Luis Ortiz in January 2022 followed by a fourth-round knockout of Devin Vargas.
“I've always said I will fight anyone, anywhere, anytime,” Martin said. “If I have to fight on less than two weeks’ notice to get a big opportunity, so be it. I'm ready. And since I can't get the best guys from my generation to fight me, I'll fight the best guy from the new generation. My goal is to become a two-time heavyweight champion. I have to beat Jared Anderson to accomplish my goal.”
Martinez-Arroyo II purse bid
Eddy Reynoso’s Clase y Talento, the lone bidder, won a WBC purse bid on Thursday for the right to promote the mandatory fight between flyweight titlist Julio Cesar Martinez (20-2, 15 KOs), 28, of Mexico, who is with Reynoso, and interim titleholder McWilliams Arroyo (21-4, 16 KOs), 37, of Puerto Rico.
The winning bid was $345,000. Ten percent of the bid ($34,500) will be held by the WBC with that money going to the winner as a bonus. Of the remaining 90 percent, Martinez is entitled to 65 percent ($201,825) and Arroyo gets 35 percent ($108,675).
The fight will be a rematch of their wild two-round no contest from November 2021 that ended with Arroyo being unable to continue after an accidental head butt. No date or site has been set.
Before the premature ending, both fighters had been knocked down in the first round and Arroyo, who has not fought since, was also down in the second round. The rematch has been postponed several times due to injuries and other issues.
Martinez has made six defenses, most recently an 11th-round knockout of Ronel Batista on the Canelo Alvarez-John Ryder undercard on May 6.
Quick hits
British countrymen Joshua Buatsi (17-0, 13 KOs) and Dan Azeez (19-0, 13 KOs) will met in a WBA light heavyweight final eliminator on Aug. 19 at a site to be determined in England, Boxxer, which promotes both men, announced. The winner will become mandatory challenger for titleholder Dmitry Bivol. Buatsi, 30, is coming off a near-shutout 10-round decision against Pawel Stepien on May 6 in Buatsi’s first fight in a year and first since leaving Matchroom Boxing and signing with Boxxer. In his last fight, Azeez, 33, knocked out Thomas Faure in the 12th round in his home country of France to win the vacant European light heavyweight title.
Showtime will stream three preliminary bouts Saturday (6:30 p.m. ET) from The Armory in Minneapolis on the Showtime Sports YouTube channel and Showtime Boxing Facebook page before the start of the Carlos Adames-Julian Williams-headlined tripleheader on the network at 9 p.m. ET. The three bouts: former super middleweight titlist Caleb Truax (31-5-2, 19 KOs), 39, of Osseo, Minnesota, against Burley Brooks (6-2-1, 5 KOs), 27, of Dallas, in a 10-rounder at light heavyweight; former junior bantamweight titlist Jerwin Ancajas (33-3-2, 22 KOs), 31, of the Philippines, who is looking to end a two-fight losing skid (both in world title fights), versus Wilner Soto (22-12, 12 KOs), 32, of Colombia, in an eight-round junior featherweight bout; and junior welterweight Mickel Spencer (3-0, 2 KOs), 19, of Linden, Michigan, versus Lyle McFarlane (2-1, 1 KO), 26, of Tulsa, Oklahoma, in a four-rounder.
Former bantamweight and junior featherweight titlist Luis Nery (34-1, 26 KOs), 28, a Mexican southpaw, will face former flyweight title challenger Froilan Saludar (33-6-1, 23 KOs), 34, of the Philippines, in a 10-rounder on July 8 in Metepec, Mexico in the main event of a Zanfer Promotions card that will stream in the United States on ESPN+ (8 p.m. ET). Nery has won three in a row since losing the WBC 122-pound title by seventh-round knockout to Brandon Figueroa in May 2021 and is coming off a sensational action battle and fight of the year contender against Azat Hovhannisyan, whom he stopped in the 11th round of a WBC title eliminator on Feb. 18 in Pomona, California.
Top Rank has American rights to a card from Heilbronn, Germany on Saturday that will stream on ESPN+ (3 p.m. ET) and is headlined by a regional junior middleweight title bout between Slawa Spomer (17-0, 8 KOs), who will be fighting in his hometown, and Italy’s Felice Moncelli (24-7-1, 6 KOs). Among the other bouts that will stream: former super middleweight world title challenger Vincent Feigenbutz (35-3, 31 KOs), of Germany, against Argentina’s Marcos Jesus Cornejo (19-7, 18 KOs) in an eight-rounder at middleweight and Top Rank junior welterweight prospect Hugo Micallef (6-0), of Monaco, versus Poland’s Michal Bulik (6-3, 2 KOs) in a six-rounder.
Show and tell
After Oscar De La Hoya lost his welterweight title to Shane Mosley, it was inevitable that the Golden Boy would move up to junior middleweight and two fights later he did just that, challenging Javier Castillejo, the WBC and lineal champion, for the 154-pound crown. Castillejo was a very solid fighter from Spain but did not have the talent, speed or power of De La Hoya, who dropped him in the final seconds of the fight to punctuate a one-sided decision — 119-108 on all three scorecards — to claim a world title in his fifth weight class.
On the HBO PPV undercard was a then-little known Manny Pacquiao, a former flyweight champion, who was fighting in the United States for the first time. Pacquiao had taken a fight with IBF junior featherweight titlist Lehlo Ledwaba, who sadly died from Covid-19 in 2021 at age 49, on short notice when his original opponent dropped out. Pacquiao shocked everyone by utterly destroying Ledwaba in the sixth round to win a title in his second weight class in a stellar performance on his way to winning titles in a record eight divisions. It was Pacquiao’s first fight with trainer Freddie Roach, who he had only been with for a few weeks, and the beginning of a historic run that would eventually see Pacquiao send De La Hoya into retirement in their mega fight years later. I was ringside at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas to cover the card they shared for USA Today. It was on June 23, 2001 — 22 years ago on Friday. Here is a mint full ticket from the card in my collection.
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Rodriguez will wipe the floor with edwards no contest