Well, it's my great pleasure to be joined on our podcast today by Jesse
Bam Rodriguez, two division world champion looking for another title belt. Bam,
you're taking on what I consider, I guess a very stiff challenger, a
future Hall of famer, frankly in the WBC Junior Bantamweight world champion Jan Francisco
Estrada. This is a fight I think a lot of people have been looking
forward to. He's the lineal champ, he's a WBC champ, Like I
said, future hall of famer. You're gonna face him June twenty ninth at
Footprint Center in Phoenix. It's the main event, live on his own.
Thank you very much for doing this. How's everything going, You're getting ready?
I think this is the biggest fight you've had, I think in terms
of name recognition. Would you agree with that? Yes, sir, this
is definitely the biggest fight, the biggest opportunity in my career. I've never
faced a fighter like Estrada, so I'm coming more than ready for this fight.
So let's go back a little bit in time to December when you had
what was probably your biggest win. I guess you had a unification fight against
Sonny Edwards. You guys were fighting to unify the w BO and the IBF
Flyway titles. Uh bam, you had a spectacular performance at night. You
stopped him in the ninth round. Uh. You know, in a fight
that a lot of people liked going in thought, you know, it could
go either way. Both guys very skilled, with a lot of possibilities in
terms of how it would unfold. What was your take on your performance,
because you really you know, you took him apart and left no doubt with
a very emphatic victory. Yeah. I feel like I showed people I can
box. A lot of people considered me the come forward fighter, but I
was able to hang in there with his speed. So I mean, after
that first round, I already knew it was gonna end in my favorite So
what took so long? I'm just joking. He was a tough fighter.
I gave a lot of credit as Suney. He was a tough fighter.
He took some shots and he just he never stopped. So it was a
good fight overall. Yeah, I'm not knocking him. He showed a lot
of heart, like you said. Yeah, So the question is, so
when you when you won that fight, you were able to unify the titles
in the flyweight division. You had already been a champion previously in the junior
bandomweight division, and so my question is when you won the fight, was
always your intention to vacate and go back to junior bandon weight or were you
looking around to see maybe what else there could be in terms of the business
and the legacy in the flyweight division. No, the plan was always to
go back to one twelve and win the WBO vacant and then I did that,
and I did want to unify with Sonny, so we ended up doing
that. And I mean even in training camp, we already knew this was
the last fight at one twelve. So after that fire, it was just
time to move up. And when you decided to do that, was it
always sort of the plan as you discuss things with maybe with Eddie from Metroom
and Robert Garcia, was the target always to try to get the fight against
Estrata for the WBC belt, which used to be your title. Yeah,
I'm not too sure on that. That's something Robert and Eddie probably can speak
on, but you know, I'm a true fighter out fight. Whoever,
if it was for any boat, I would have went in there and fight
him right away. But as was the strata because he was the biggest name.
I guess, was that the guy that you were looking at? Yeah?
Yeah, No, Estrada is definitely the best fighter in the division,
and that's what I'm here to do. Fight the best fighters and just pick
up belts along the way and come June twenty nine, that's what I'm going
to do. So, as I mentioned this the belt that you're going to
fight for. As you know, he's also the lineal champion because of his
victory over Roman Chocolate Tito Gonzalez in their trilogy fight. But the thing is
you you already had the belt, So I wonder is your mentality, like
he's just borrowing it and you're going back to get it because he gave it
up, you know, back before you went back down to the flyweight division.
How what is your assessment of that is it? Is it your mentality?
You're going like the champ because you never lost that belt in the ring.
Yeah yeah, I mean he's a champion, he has a beat,
he has the Ring magazine as well, so you know, you got to
give him credit for that. But like I said, I'm here to collect
buds and beat names along the way, so I'm just here to take with
mine. I think everybody who follows boxing knows the strata looks at him and
says, man, he is a great fighter, truly, he's a future
Hall of Famer. But you're twenty four years old. He's thirty four years
old. There's no I don't think anybody would debate that he's in the twilight
of his career, even though he's shown himself to be outstanding when he's been
fighting, and he's got a lot of hard fights along the way, being
a decade younger like you are, being fresher. How big of a role
do you think that might play in this fight, especially you know, as
it gets deeper into what probably will be a tough fight. Yeah, that's
a huge role, definitely, especially with the layoff he's been on I think
it's in almost two years. I feel like that's going to play a huge
factor in this fight. But I'm not leaning towards that. I know he's
gonna come ready more than ever. I feel like he has a lot to
prove, a lot to lose as well, so I'm expecting the best.
Shota and I hope he's expecting the best. Bam Madriguez will be coming off
an eighteen month layoff, and it's not like his last fight was any kind
of easy pickings. That was I'm not mistaken. That was the third match
against Chocolatito Gonzalez, which is a very tough fight. He's been known to
be in some rough slug fests. I mean, watch his trilogy with with
with Roman, and you can watch plenty of other fights some guys. You're
familiar with quadras and surround V side people like that, and we know the
type of fighter you are. We've seen you said you wanted a box again,
Sonny, but we've seen you brawl it out also with guys. Do
you think that this can be anything other than at least some type of slugfest
type of fight. Oh, I can see myself out boxing him. To
be honest, I have a lot of skill. I showed that in the
Sunny fight, but I feel like I didn't show it to my full potential.
So I feel like this fight will make me a lot smarter, you
know, saying no disrespect to him, but he didn't have the power to
keep me off of him. So I wasn't as cautious, but against the
Firelights Strout, I feel like I'll be more cautious, more elusive. So
I feel like I'll show more boxing skills this far. Like based on his
background, you probably go in even though obviously haven't felt his power yet.
I guess you look at the knockouts he's had and the types of opponents he's
face, and have the healthy respect for the probable power that you feel is
what you're saying. Yeah, of course, of course with a record like
as Jolie, you gotta respect power, whether it's real or not. You
go in there with the mentality that he can, you know, knock me
out. So, like I said, he's been in a lot of tremendous
fights, And I wonder you know, when you when you watch boxing and
you think about what you may do in the future. Were you a fan
of this guy at some point before it even became a possibility, like,
Hey, maybe down the road I might fight this fighter. Were you watching
his trilogy with Chocolate Tito? Were you a fan of his even before I
was professional, I was watching his fights, Like you said, against Charlotte
beat the Rungviside Quadras, I was watching those fights, and I wasn't even
pro yet, so I would I wouldn't. I wouldn't say necessarily a fan,
but I did enjoy watching him. He put on a lot of great
fights, So I honestly never saw as an amateur, never saw myself fighting
him. Once I started kind of thinking about fighting him, was when he
started mentioning my name. When I beat Quadras, he kind of discredited my
win against him and rung Viciz, So you know, it was just a
matter of time before we met in the in the ring. So you mentioned
some of the guys that he fought. Now, if you go back,
like I guess, maybe over the last decade or so, the four big
names in this weight class and also from the flyweight division, because these guys
have you know, moved up. Also is Wan Francisco Estrada, is Roman
Gonzales, it is Quadras, It is Swiss cat Sar Rugby Si. You've
beaten two of them. You've beaten Quadras and you've beaten Sir Rugby SI.
I know you think you're gonna beat a Strata come June twenty ninth. That
would leave like just one more guy out there, Roman Gonzalz that you would
not have faced He's coming back later this summer. I know that, mister
Honda. You know, your co promoter from Teaking Promotions is very close to
Roman. Obviously he has an affinity for you also, But do you think
that and he's never shown an interest to make that fight, But do you
think that's a fight that maybe someday before Roman, you know, hangs him
up, that might also happen and you could potentially go four for four against
those four top notch guys. To be honest, I don't ever see it
happening, just because it Sarron was very respectful with this fighters, doesn't you
know, like putting him in with each other. So I don't ever see
it happening, to be honest, would you like it? Yeah? Nah,
there's too much respect between us, and there's really no point fair enough.
A lot of people have or Jesse Bam Rodriguez rightfully so, in their
top ten pound for pound lists, especially after the way that you took care
of Sonny Edwards. A lot of people thought he would do a good job
boxing against you, But we just discussed as you took him apart, how
important is that pound for pound list recognition to you? As a fighter.
I mean, you've won the titles, and you've made a name for yourself.
You've been in the running for Fighter of the Year. But what's it
mean to you to be considered in that top ten pound for pound At this
point? It means a lot to me. Before I was even on the
list, I never really care for it care for it, to be honest,
But once I was put on it, I came to the conclusion that
it is a huge accomplishment and it's something that I want to It's a list
I want to stay on for the rest of my career. I know winning
this fight will bump me up even higher, so I'm more motivated than ever
just being on that list and being mentioned with those top ten boxes on the
list as well. Now I think about when you fight this fight. When
you fight in San Antonio, you've obviously been the big hometown favorite because that's
where you were from. When you're fighting somebody like Sonny Edwards who comes here
to your country and fights in a largely Hispanic in front of a Hispanic crowd,
him being from England, obviously you're the big crowd favorite. But when
you go to Phoenix for this fight against Estrada. You're both Hispanic. He's
he's a from Mexico. He's got a ton of fans there. Obviously you've
got your fans here. I wonder who do you How do you think the
house is gonna be? Is it gonna be a bam Ro Rodriguez house or
a one Francisco Estrada house. I think it's more one Francisco Estrada house.
There's a there's a huge Mexico game the next day, so I feel like
there's gonna be a lot a lot of Mexican fans. They're gonna lean towards
Strata just because you know, he's a he's born there, So I mean,
there's no there's really no problem with that. I have my people going
as well, so at the end of the day, it's us two in
the ring. The crowd doesn't really make a difference at on my end.
But you know that there's nothing, nothing to worry about. You're talking about
like, there's a soccer game, I guess going on. Yeah, yeah,
it's a huge soccer game, got you, Okay? I follow boxing,
not soccer, so sorry about that. Yeah, yeah, I don't
even I don't know soccer, but they've been telling me that there's like a
Mexico Verus Ecuador or something like that. Yeah, okay, yeah, all
right, I just want to I want to wrap up with this. I
know that you obviously are going to focus and concentrate on taking on as Strata.
As we've discussed, we think we can agree that it's the on paper
anyway, the toughest fight that you've had. But I wonder, you know,
what are your goals beyond winning this title and taking care of a Strada.
And I wonder is it about unifying additionally within the junior bandamweight division with
the other champions who are not maybe the most well known, at least not
on this side of the pond. Is it maybe moving up to bantamweight at
some point to go for a title and get another weight class. There's some
good fighters there, Nakatani who's also with mister Honda Takuma in a way the
brother of Noia in a way like it sort of like in your mind that
would is the pathway that you think is going to happen as you continue your
career. Okay, so after this FI, I do have a rematch clause
with this Strata, So if that were to end up going through, then
I would fight a Strata again, and then I would love to fight the
winner of Ioka and Martinez. If the WBO presents itself, I would go
for undisputed as well. But I mean I'm still brying. I'm only twenty
four years old, so I don't want to wait too long on that.
So I definitely will move up to one eighteen and see who's they're at the
time. But the immediate future then is one fifteen. Clean up that way
class as best as you can, and then to bantam weight. Yes,
sir, And just one more thing, do you have a dream fight?
I know you mentioned maybe Ioka, Martinez or you know, one of those
guys, but is there a name out there that that you're like, You
know, man, I'd really love to fight that guy for the money,
the recognition, the titles, whatever the case may be. Yeah, I
would. I would love to fight in a way in Japan, you know,
and we're actually in the same way class, not now obviously, but
down the line a few years from now. I would live that fight.
Now you're talking that's a big time fight. Yeah, yeah, see how
mister hand I likes that one mm h And just to the last question here,
do you think you can stop one Franco Strada. He's showing a durable
ten during his career and you got a good puncher. Yeah, he's a
great fighter. But I believe I do have what it takes. I'm not
going into the fight looking for it, but if it happens, it happens.
But I just know in the back of my mind I do have what
it takes. That sounds good. We'll leave it there, Jesse, thank
you very much for your time. Can't thank you enough. I wish you
the best of luck in the fight. Thank you.