Juan Francisco Estrada, Bam Rodriguez Make Weight For Anticipated RING 115-Pound Championship
Jesse ‘Bam’ Rodriguez and Juan Francisco ‘El Gallo’ Estrada are set for their highly anticipated championship.
Both boxers weighed in right at the 115-pound limit for their DAZN headliner this Saturday from Footprint Center, home to the NBA’s Phoenix Suns.
Estrada attempts the sixth defense of his Ring 115-pound championship and first of his second tour as WBC titlist.
Rodriguez (19-0, 12 KOs) aims to regain the first title he won as a pro, in this very venue.
CAREER-LONG LAYOFF FOR FUTURE HALL OF FAMER
Mexico’s Estrada (44-3, 28 knockouts) has been out since a Dec. 2022 win over Roman ‘Chocolatito’ Gonzalez (51-4, 41 KOs). Their memorable 12-round rubber match took place at Desert Diamond Arena in nearby Glendale.
Estrada went up 2-1 in their series and reclaimed the WBC belt he won in 2019 but subsequently vacated. Efforts to unify proved futile and resulted in a layoff of more than 18 months for the 34-year-old from Hermosillo.
Saturday marks Estrada’s fourteenth career fight with a major title and/or Ring championship at stake.
BOXING’s YOUNGEST IN CHARGE SEEKS TRIUMPHANT RETURN TO 115
Rodriguez won the WBC 115-pound title previously left behind by Estrada, more than two years ago at this site. He outpointed former champ Carlos Cuadras (42-5-1, 28 KOs), No. 4 at 115, in Feb. 2022. He took the fight on six days’ notice, but went on to make two defenses before he moved down to flyweight.
The three-pound drop saw San Antonio’s Rodriguez become a unified titlist at just age 23. He won the WBO belt last April before he added the IBF title in a ninth-round stoppage of Sunny Edwards. Their highly anticipated unification bout came at Desert Diamond Arena last December.
EX-TITLISTS MEET AT THE CROSSROADS
Sunny Edwards and Adrien Curiel meet in a battle of former titleholders coming off knockout defeats.
Sheffield’s Edwards (20-1, 4 KOs) and Mexico City’s Curiel (24-5-1, 5 KOs) both weighed right at the 112-pound flyweight limit.
The bout is the first for Edwards since his ninth-round stoppage loss to Rodriguez. The setback ended the lengthy IBF title reign for The Ring’s No. 2-rated flyweight.
Curiel briefly held the IBF junior flyweight title, which he won in a stunning first-round knockout of Sivenathi Nontshinga last November. Nontshinga (13-1, 10 KOs), No. 2 at 108, avenged the loss with a tenth-round stoppage on Feb. 16 in a Fight of the Year contender.
Saturday marks the return to flyweight for Curiel, No. 3 at 108.
MERCADO AIMS TO EXTEND REIGN, ALI EYES HISTORY
The evening’s lone other major title fight saw Yamileth Mercado and Ramla Ali both make weight.
Mercado (23-3, 5 KOs), No. 2 at 122 by The Ring, was a trim and ready 121 pounds as she attempts the seventh defense of her WBC title. The 26-year-old from Cuauhtemoc, Mexico has held the title since Nov. 2019.
Her lone defeat over the past six years came in Aug. 2021. Mercado dropped a ten-round decision to Amanda Serrano (46-2-1, 30 KOs) in a failed bid to dethrone the featherweight queen.
Ali (9-1, 2 KOs) was 122 pounds ahead of her first career title fight.
The London-based iconic boxer/activist/model aims to become the first Somali combat sports athlete to win a major title. Ali, 34, avenged a knockout loss to Julissa Guzman (14-3-2, 7 KOs) with a ten-round decision last November. 4.
Below are the weights for the rest of the undercard.
10 rounds, junior featherweight
Arturo Popoca (13-0-1, 8 KOs), Sahuayo de Morelos, Mexico, 121 pounds
Danny Barrios (15-0, 5 KOs), Phoenix, 121.2 pounds
8 rounds, bantamweight
Gabriel Muratalla (11-0, 6 KOs), Fontana, California, 117.6 pounds
Carlos Fontes (23-3-1, 19 KOs), Hermosillo, 117 pounds
6 rounds, welterweight
Fabian Rojo (8-0, 6 KOs), Phoenix, 146.4 pounds
Daniel Gonzalez (5-1, 2 KOs), Albuquerque, New Mexico, 146.2 pounds
6 rounds, junior welterweight
Leonardo Rubalcava (7-0, 3 KOs), Jurupa Valley, California, 139 pounds
William Flenoy (3-3-1, 1 KO), Fresno, California, 136.2 pounds
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