Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez kept his WBC 115-pound title and Fighter of the Year hopes alive with a hard-fought decision victory over Israel Gonzalez, capping the Canelo vs. GGG 3 undercard.
The judges rated the fight 114-113, 117-110 and 118-109. Bad Left Hook had the fight 116-111 on two separate cards, both going to Rodriguez.
Our live coverage of Canelo vs GGG 3 continues! Click here!
Rodriguez (17-0, 11 KOs) didn’t look as excitingly dominant as he did in wins earlier this year over Carlos Cuadras and Srisaket Sor Rungvisai, and there are probably several layers to that, but the decision isn’t controversial. one, even if most would agree that two of the cards were a bit wide. Given that Rodriguez was docked a point for a low blow in the eighth round, and could have taken another in the 11th but didn’t, the scores mean that one card gave him only one round out of 12, and another one only two. .
But when you factor that in, first of all, Gonzalez (28-5-1, 11 KOs) is a better, tougher fighter than a lot of people thought, and fighting three times in seven months, which also means three training camps, they can tire even a young man like “Bam”, 22 years old, it’s not a bad performance or anything like that. Plus, it was a great fight, even if the crowd at T-Mobile Arena didn’t seem very interested at all, which isn’t a surprise, but a disappointment to witness anyway.
“It was a tough fight. I didn’t expect that,” Rodriguez admitted. “He was very clumsy and very tough. I was trying to catch him with body shots and I guess some of them were a little low, but it wasn’t on purpose. I just didn’t give the performance I wanted, but it’s part of the sport.”
Asked if he still planned to return in December for a fourth fight at the end of the year, Rodriguez said he would discuss it with his team. If he does, the plan is to have him on the Estrada vs. Chocolatito 3 undercard on Dec. 3, which would be a two-and-a-half month turnaround from here.
Ali Akhmedov UD-10 Gabriel Rosado
The scores went from 100 to 90 across the board from all three judges, which is the only score I could have. Bad Left Hook also had him 100-90 on two separate cards.
Akhmedov (19-1, 14 KO) didn’t do anything special here, he boxed smart, landed some good punches, Rosado (26-16-1, 15 KO) got hurt a few times but never had any major issues, though maybe once. or twice, Akhmedov could have gone on and just didn’t want to risk it.
Rosado, 36, has gotten some extra career mileage thanks to Bektemir Melikuziev walking into a perfectly timed right hand pump some 15 months ago, but now it’s three straight losses for him to Jaime Munguia, Shane Mosley Jr and Akhmedov. . He was flat against Mosley, who is not a fighter who probably would have beaten a younger Rosado; in fact, he is exactly the type of person that Rosado usually beats. And while he had some fire here and was still tough as nails and held on, he didn’t come close to winning a round either.
It’s been a hard-fought and penny-winning race for Rosado, who had far more nights in the spotlight than a glance at his WL record would lead you to believe. It may be time to retire, but there are also fights for him at 160 or 168 that would give him decent paydays. Someone like Jason Quigley, maybe. We’ll see what the Philadelphia veteran does.
Akhmedov, 27, has now won three in a row since his upset loss to Carlos Góngora. This one was a bit more serious than the wins over David Zegarra or Paul Valenzuela, in that Rosado is simply a better coach and more dangerous on the counterattack. Akhmedov and his corner respected that, and it ended with a pro win, and even with Rosado clearly outclassing his best days, which were never really high level in the first place, this was probably his best win to date. .
Austin Williams UD-10Kieron Conway
The scores were 96-93, 97-92 and 97-92 from the judges. Bad Left Hook had it 96-93 and 98-91 for Williams, who is 12-0 (9 KOs) but got a solid test here from Conway (18-3-1, 4 KOs).
It’s a decent win, but at some points a bit worrying, for “Ammo”, who at 26 isn’t as young as you might think. But the adversity I thought he faced mostly in rounds two through five, when it didn’t come easy for him, was answered kindly, and a knockdown in round nine left no doubt he deserved the win. It wasn’t a great shot, maybe even a ref call, but a call that I think the ref got right.
Williams left some concerns about what happens when he really steps up, or faces a bigger puncher than Conway, because Conway made Austin look a little raw and unrefined during parts of the fight. But overall, Williams got the job done; the adversity he faced, he overcame and he was the better fighter down the stretch.
