Jesse Rodriguez stopped pound-for-pound great Juan Estrada in a barnstorming battle to body-shot his way onto the list.
‘Bam’ folded Estrada in the seventh round with a perfect punch after the duo traded leather for six rounds at a packed Footprint Center in Phoenix. The 24-year-old moved to 20-0 with his 13th career stoppage and is already one of the greats of his generation.
Rodriguez enters the top ten for the first time at number five.
The scorecards were close at the end of the contest, with Rodriguez up on one, Estrada the other, and the third a draw. At the post-fight presser, Rodriguez said, “Shocking! Good thing I got him out of there,” when going over the ending.
On what’s next, he added, “I’ve been saying I’ll stay at 115 for two or three fights. I know there’s a rematch clause with Estrada, so if he wants to go through with that, we can run it back. If not, I want the winner of Ioka vs Martinez [on July 7].”
Bam Rodriguez folds his way into the Pound for Pound Top 5
🎥 @MatchroomBoxing
pic.twitter.com/c8Cz68OD9o— World Boxing News (@WorldBoxingNews) June 30, 2024
Teofimo beats Claggett
Teofimo Lopez pushed to 21-1 in Miami Beach in further action when successfully defending his WBO super lightweight crown. Lopez scored a unanimous decision over the unheralded Steve Claggett, who dropped to 38-8-2, 6 KOs after this latest loss.
Lopez proceeded to backflip and dance after the victory in an unwarranted display considering his triumph and opponent.
Despite winning nine straight, Claggett had never faced anybody in Lopez’s class. The 35-year-old couldn’t get past Lopez’s defense and lost every round of the twelve in a training title defense.
“The Takeover’ won with scores of 120-108 twice and 119-109 as the 26-year-old hopefully pushes towards one of the other champions.
In the aftermath, he said, “I knew exactly what kind of fighter he was. I knew he would come forward and test my conditioning. And that’s what we had. We went through twelve rounds.
“The will has to be stronger than the skill. And that’s what we showed tonight. If I was tired, I know he was more tired because I worked very hard for this. We knew we had to break him down. The body shots were hurting him.”
“I’m very grateful. He’s a tough fighter. I don’t think anyone should overlook him. I knew that coming into this.”
In contrast to Rodriguez, Lopez is unmoved from the WBN P4P list due to a going-through motions win.
Read all articles and exclusive interviews by Phil Jay. Learn more about the author, experienced boxing writer, and World Boxing News Editor since 2010. Follow on Twitter @PhilJWBN.
