Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez’s easiest fight on paper this year turned out to be his hardest in the ring.
Rodriguez, who caused a sensation by outpointing Carlos Cuadras and stopping Srisaket Sor Rungvisai in back-to-back fights, defeated a stubborn Israel Gonzalez by unanimous decision to retain his 115-pound title on the Canelo Alvarez-Gennadiy Golovkin undercard on Saturday in Las Vegas.
The scores were 118-109, 117-110 and 114-113. Boxing Junkie scored 115-112 for Rodriguez, eight rounds to four.
RodrÃguez (17-0, 11 KOs) had to work hard to get the victory.
Gonzalez, a four-time title challenger from Mexico, had a quick…