Many things had to happen in order for Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez and his trainer Robert Garcia to arrive together this Saturday for Bam’s first world title bout. Rodriguez is part of one of the biggest boxing stables in the world. The team’s nickname, RGBA, an acronym for Robert Garcia Boxing Academy, is home to several world champions including four division world champion Mikey Garcia, unified junior welterweight Jose Ramirez and Bam’s older brother current WBA SuperFly champion. Garcia was named trainer of the year in 2012 by Boxing Writer’s Association of America. Rodriguez is in search of becoming Garcia’s thirteenth world champion. He’ll join the likes of Stevie Luevano, Brian Viloria, Nonito Donaire, Brandon Rios, Mikey Garcia, Evgeny Gradovich, Jesus Cuellar, Marcos Maidana, Abner Mares, Jose Ramirez, Carlos Licona and Josh Franco to capture world titles under the care of Robert Garcia and his team.
In order for Garcia to be in Bam’s corner this Saturday first Jose Ramirez’s fight date was rescheduled from February 5th to March 5th because his opponent Jose Pedraza was reported to have covid-19. Then Sunday night it was reported by Salvador Rodriguez of ESPN that Sor Rungvisai was not available to fight versus Carlos Cuadras, prompting Eddie Hearn, the promoter of the event to scramble to look for a last minute replacement. Then, Monday, Josesito Lopez revealed that he was going to withdraw from his fight in Las Vegas, NV versus Abel Ramos due to an injury allowing Garcia and the team to avoid a split in duties in order to cover two events in different cities. Most importantly or as of equal importance last October Mikey Garcia was scheduled to headline his own event in Fresno, CA when he was very close to canceling the date but when he caught wind that Rodriguez was going to be offered a title bout on the undercard, he swiftly changed his mind and kept the date. The importance of Mikey keeping the fight date is that it allowed Rodriguez to stay active. Rodriguez had already had two of his bouts canceled in 2021, one in March and another in June. We all know how important it is for a fighter to stay active. Can you imagine Rodriguez going into his first world title bout having not fought a single time in 2021?
Rodriguez was first introduced to Robert Garcia and his team in 2015 when his older brother started to training with Garcia in Riverside as he prepared to pro debut under Oscar DeLaHoya’s promotional company, Golden Boy. Rodriguez trained a couple of weeks there with Garcia alongside his brother as he prepared to compete in the World’s amateur tournament in St. Petersburg, Russia in the minimum weight division. Rodriguez fought a total of 5 bouts only losing in the final to Cosmin Girleanu of Romania by unanimous decision. He earned a Silver medal. The very talented Gabe Flores Jr. was enrolled in the same tournament and competed in the super bantamweight division.
It has been an interesting journey to say the least but the entire team in Riverside seems very excited about the opportunity to crown another world champion. The team is leadered by Robert Garcia but everyone plays an important role including Don Eduardo Garcia, Pita Garcia, Chepe Contreras and Art Tovar. It’s important to note Rodriguez gets the opportunity to train under Jose Ramirez’ strength and conditioning coach, Dr. Charles Trembley of Fight Force Athletics.
Saturday the entire boxing world will have their eyes glued to their phones and televisions sets as we seek to witness history as Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez moves up two divisions from 108 to 115 in search of glory and a World Title Championship in Phoenix, AZ.
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