FRISCO, Texas – Phumelele Cafu has quickly grown accustomed to the underdog role.
For the second straight fight, Cafu, an unbeaten WBO 115lbs titlist, has traveled to take on a reigning titlist in his home region. This time, Cafu at least brings something to the table, as he is set to meet lineal and WBC junior bantamweight champ Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez.
The two will square off Saturday atop a DAZN show here from The Ford Center at The Star. The venue is located roughly four hours from Rodriguez’s San Antonio hometown, but it’s a half a world away from Cafu’s home country of South Africa.
Cafu, 11-0-3 (8 KOs), enters as a +1100 underdog, while Rodriguez, 21-0 (14 KOs), is upwards of a -3000 favorite to unify the WBC and WBO titles this weekend.
“Everyone’s overlooking me – and I’m cool with it,” Cafu told BoxingScene and other reporters during fight week. “Taking nothing away from Bam, he’s a really good fighter.
“Come Saturday night, everyone will see how great I am.”
Cafu faced the same predicament in his previous outing, which produced the biggest win of his career. The 30-year-old traveled to Tokyo, where he upended four-division and then-WBO 115lbs titleholder Kosei Tanaka last October. A fifth-round knockdown provided the margin of victory in a split decision for Cafu, who entered that fight as the visiting underdog.
He is an even greater long shot to prevail this weekend but stands in the way of grander plans for Rodriguez. Against the promotion’s best wishes, Turki Alalshikh revealed that Rodriguez is due to next face WBA titleholder Fernando Martinez on a November 22 “Ring IV: Night of Champions” card in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Neither Rodriguez nor Matchroom Boxing have uttered a word about it during fight week, largely out of respect to Cafu.
Still, it doesn’t change the general perception from the moment this fight was announced that Cafu is in over his head against one of the sport’s very best.
“Everyone globally – even back home in South Africa – has been overlooking us,” head trainer Colin Nathan said. “That’s OK. We’ve been in positions like this before. We’ve succeeded in positions like this before and we’ll be ready to shock the world on Saturday night.”
Cafu accepted the fight with Rodriguez only after plans fell through to secure a title defense against former four-division champ Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez. The two were due to meet this spring in Managua, Nicaragua. However, the deal fell apart late into negotiations.
There were talks of Cafu taking a stay-busy title defense in South Africa before he got the call for a two-belt unification against one of the top 10 pound-for-pound fighters in the world.
“I’m ready for this fight – it’s everything I’ve ever dreamed of,” explained Cafu. “The reason we’re fighting Bam is because I want to fight the best guys in our division. I know, to a lot of people, this fight doesn’t make sense.
“That’s why I wanted Gonzalez first, then Bam would be next. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen, so we went straight to Bam.”
Cafu will be attempting his first title defense, while Rodriguez is aiming for the second successful defense of his second WBC 115lbs title reign. He previously held the belt in 2022 before he moved down to flyweight, where he claimed the IBF and WBO titles. Rodriguez then moved back up in weight to dethrone lineal/WBC champ Juan Francisco Estrada last June 29 in Phoenix.
Cafu was impressed with what Rodriguez had to offer that night, particularly his climbing off the canvas to knock Estrada out late in the seventh. However, he also saw flaws that he feels he can exploit on Saturday.
“I have the power to knock anyone out,” insisted Cafu. “He’s been down before, but he got up like nothing happened. I believe in my power, I believe it’s more than Estrada’s. I’ve also been in there with fighters with all sorts of experience. I’ve been preparing for southpaws. I’m ready for anything that Bam brings to the table.
“People think I will come here and run away from Bam. This is my message: I’ll be right there in front of you. You won’t have to look for me because I’ll be right there. I feel like I’m gonna knock Bam out. That’s how I feel. It won’t go the distance.”
