Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez remains favorite ahead of his upcoming title defense against Pedro Guevara, but his trainer Robert Garcia believes he’s up for a tougher test.
Rodriguez of San Antonio, 24, will engage Mexico’s 35-year-old Guevara in a WBC junior bantamweight championship as the co-main event to Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis’ IBF welterweight title defense against Karen Chukhadzhian at the Wells Fargo Center on November 9 in Philadelphia.
Ahead of the Guevara fight, Garcia revealed that their camp had preferred a rematch with Juan Francisco Estrada but the Mexican opted for a different challenge.
“Bam gets motivated when he's finally fighting a challenge, a real challenge, that's when he performs at his best,” Garcia told Fight Hype. “This fight wasn't the fight that we expected, obviously.
“But we had to fight Guevara. Guevara is a tough guy, a former champion. He's in there to do what nobody else has done and he's also Mexican. So, he wants to prove that he's up there with all the best Mexicans in the world and we're up for a challenge also. Bam is training hard, he's dedicated, he's in shape for next Saturday in Philadelphia.”
Rodriguez, 20-0 (13 KOs), is expected to finish the year with an emphatic win over veteran Guevara, 42-4-1 (22 KOs) – who’s set to make his US debut. The San Antonio native is coming off a seventh-round KO win over Estrada in June.
Guevara, on the other hand, is on a two-fight winning streak against Lamberto Macias and Andrew Maloney this year and, for what it’s worth, currently holds the WBC interim junior bantamweight title. The Mexican is already looking forward to his options in 2025 with unifications on the cards for Rodriguez.
When asked about some of the options available for Rodriguez, Garcia said “Maybe Pumita Martinez is probably the best out there, the biggest name out there unless in December he loses to Yoka, maybe in Japan. That's probably the biggest fight out there for Bam.
“But if there's nothing else, Bam would love to be undisputed at the division, but we gotta see if the champions are available. After that, if he doesn't, if nothing happens at 115, then it'll be 180. He's not gonna just defend his belts against nobody's, against guys that don't mean much for him. He wants to challenge himself. He does challenge himself.
“He wants a big challenge. So, I think 118 will be our next move.”
Commenting on a possible move up to junior featherweight in the future, Garcia refused to rule that out.
“Definitely. It's definitely possible. But, by the way, by the time Bam is at 122, I think it'll be two or three years from now. I don't know if Inoue will be at 122. He might be at 130 by that time. We never know. But if he is, Bam wants those challenges. That's the fights that motivate Bam. If it doesn't mean anything, he's not even gonna fight. He wants unification.
“He wants challenges. And like I told you, if he's not at 115, if he won't find any challenge at 115, then he's gonna go move at 118 pounds. There's a few good fighters at 118, but I won't eventually, maybe two years from now. If he's still there. Of course.”
Bernard Neequaye is a sports journalist with a specialty in boxing coverage. He wrote a boxing column titled “From The Ringside” in his native Ghana for years. He can be reached on X (formerly Twitter) at @BernardNeequaye, LinkedIn at Bernard Neequaye and through email at bernardneequaye@gmail.com.