Power-punching machine Rodriguez outslugs Yafai in wide decision
Mexican wins WBC interim flyweight title in upset on the road
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In a hellacious but one-sided slugfest, Francisco Rodriguez Jr. pulled the upset with a relentless assault on Galal Yafai to win the WBC interim flyweight title in the main event of a Matchroom Boxing card on Saturday on DAZN at BP Pulse LIVE in Birmingham, England.
Rodriguez, who was 11 years removed from unifying strawweight titles in a decision over Katsunari Takayama in the 2014 fight of the year, punctuated Saturday’s victory with a 12th-round knockdown and won by a landslide, 119-108, 119-108 and 118-109, in Yafai’s hometown.
Fight Freaks Unite also scored it 118-109 for Rodriguez, who, in addition to claiming the 112-pound interim belt, secured the position as a mandatory challenger for the winner of the fight between WBC/WBA champion Kenshiro Teraji and Ricardo Rafael Sandoval. That fight is scheduled for July 30 in Yokohama, Japan.
WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman confirmed to Fight Freaks Unite after Rodriguez’s victory that the Teraji-Sandoval winner must face him next.
Rodriguez and Yafai are both 32 but heading into the fight it was seen as a battle of the Rodriguez’s immense professional experience that has included many grueling battles against Yafai’s supreme amateur pedigree — he is a two-time Olympian and 2020 gold medalist — and freshness as a pro.
Rodriguez’s side of the ledger won out thanks to his constant pressure and excellent chin.
As Matchroom Boxing’s Eddie Hearn, Yafai’s promoter, said afterward: “It was rough after relatively few professional fights but he wants to move fast. He debuted in a 10-round fight. He came up against the elite end of the division and found out how tough it is up there.”
