Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez has the one fight ahead of him that is worth staying put at 115lbs.
The unbeaten two-division and reigning lineal and WBC junior bantamweight champion is now due for back-to-back unification bouts should everything go his way later this month. With a win over WBO titlist Phumulele Cafu on July 19, Rodriguez will then take on WBA titleholder Fernando “Pumita” Martinez in November.
News of the latter bout was revealed on Friday by Turki Alalshikh, whose Riyadh Season group will finance the match and the card on which it will appear.
“Another blockbuster fight,” . “WBC [115lbs] world champion Jesse 'Bam' Rodriguez will collide with WBA champion Fernando 'Puma' Martinez, as part of the MASSIVE Riyadh Season card in November.”
Rodriguez, 21-0 (14 KOs), is a heavy betting favorite to prevail over South Africa’s Cafu, 11-0-3 (8 KOs), in their two-belt unification showdown. They will meet atop a DAZN show from the Ford Center at The Star, home to the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys’ practice squad in Frisco, Texas.
There was speculation that Rodriguez, a 25-year-old San Antonio native, would abandon the division after the fight and begin his bantamweight campaign. That matter was addressed by Rodriguez at a time when he didn’t know his immediate dream fight was already on the horizon.
“Say I do beat Cafu – because I’m not looking past him – [undisputed] is my original plan,” Rodriguez told BoxingScene in an interview before his pending fight with Martinez was finalized. “If we can’t get those fights, then I really don’t have no problem moving up, either.”
For now, Rodriguez can remain at 115 and add a second and possibly third belt to his current collection all in the next five months.
Argentina’s Martinez, 18-0 (9 KOs), is coming off a repeat win over Kazuto Ioka. The unbeaten 33-year-old from Buenos Aires once again traveled to Japan, upending the former four-division titlist via unanimous decision. Martinez survived a late knockdown to prevail on all three scorecards and retain his WBA title.
Their rematch came 10 months after their incredible unification clash last July, in which Martinez outpointed Ioka to retain his IBF belt and claim the WBA strap. He was stripped of the IBF title when he opted to move forward with the Ioka rematch in lieu of a mandatory title defense against Willibaldo Garcia, who has since claimed the vacant belt.
Martinez-Ioka II was delayed, however, from its original date last New Year’s Eve. Martinez fell ill during fight week and was forced to withdraw from the fight. He and Ioka were in discussions for a new date when Martinez’s team also opened up talks with Rodriguez. The latter conversation quickly died down once he was able to move forward with the Ioka sequel.
Rodriguez originally won the WBC 115lbs title in 2022 and defended it twice before he moved down to flyweight, where he unified the WBO and IBF belts in back-to-back fights. The back end of that feat came in a December 2023 stoppage win over unbeaten Sunny Edwards, before he decided to return to junior bantamweight.
Rodriguez’s second and current tour as 115lbs ruler was launched last June, when Rodriguez dethroned Juan Francisco Estrada. Both fighters hit the deck before Rodriguez prevailed via seventh-round body-shot knockout to enter his third title reign. He has since added a third-round knockout of Pedro Guevara, in Philadelphia last November.
Rodriguez-Martinez – pending the July 19 outcome – is the fourth confirmed title fight for the planned Riyadh Season show on a November date to be determined. As previously reported by BoxingScene, the event also includes the David Benavidez-Anthony Yarde WBC 175lbs title fight, Brian Norman Jnr’s WBO 147lbs title defense against former two-division champ Devin Haney and the Abdullah Mason-Sam Noakes vacant WBO lightweight title clash.
Rumors have swirled of a potential clash between IBF 135lbs titleholder Raymond Muratalla and mandatory challenger Andy Cruz also joining the lineup. However, such claims are unconfirmed as this story goes to publication.
Jake Donovan is an award-winning journalist who served as a senior writer for BoxingScene from 2007-2024, and news editor for the final nine years of his first tour. He was also the lead writer for The Ring before his decision to return home. Follow Jake on and .
