In what was supposed to be his stiffest test to date (and the matchup I was personally most intrigued by), Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez was smooth like butter in an utter domination of quality champion Fransisco “Puma” Martinez, giving him a boxing lesson for nine rounds before brutally knocking him out with a pull-counter left in the tenth. 

As good as Martinez (18-1, 9 ko) is, and with all the momentum he had, coming off of two consecutive wins over Japanese legend Kazuto Ioka, he just simply couldn’t match wits with the crafty pound for pound great Rodriguez. Bam spent the whole fight swimming without getting wet, staying active right in the pocket while making himself virtually impossible to get a clean glove on, slipping, rolling, blocking, and angling out after every combination. With the exception of a semi successful sixth, Martinez was dominated from bell to bell. 

Bam is one of the most skilled practitioners in boxing, in my opinion nothing short of main event fighter on any card he is on with his size being his only limiting factor in his pursuit of stardom. Detractors thought that the birth of a child could distract him, but like the greats do, he used it as a motivator. He has now cleaned out the elite at 112 and 115 pounds, with the only competitive potential matchups for him up at higher weights. He is inarguably a top-6 pound for pound fighter, and only 25 years old at that. 

We just watched a special fighter on a special run score a career best victory against a prime champion.