At 24, Jesse Rodriguez has already established himself as a pound-for-pound boxer. The two-division champion wows fans with his slick style and hard-hitting shots. And Rodriguez appears just to be getting started.
A Junior World Championships silver medalist, Rodriguez turned pro in 2017. He won the WBC super flyweight title in 2022 and the WBO flyweight belt in April 2023.
Rodriguez ended 2023 by pulverizing Sunny Edwards, scoring a brutal knockdown in the ninth round to add the IBF title to his collection.
His 19-0 resume is already something to admire and includes other notable wins such as Carlos Cuadras and Srisaket Sor Rungvisai. Rodriguez does not succumb to pressure, he welcomes it.
Considered one of the future stars of boxing, Rodriguez looks for a changing of the guard moment when he challenges Juan Francisco Estrada on June 29 for the WBC and Ring super flyweight titles. The veteran vs. young gun matchup in Arizona has the potential to be a thunderous collision.
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With a nickname like “Bam,” it is expected all Rodriguez fights start and end that way.
Here’s an explanation as to why Rodriguez carries his famous nickname.
Why is Jesse Rodriguez called ‘Bam’?
Rodriguez’s nickname goes back to his childhood.
Per Diario AS, his dad nicknamed him Bambino, which in Italian means “little child” or “baby.” He soon shortened it from “Bambino” to “Bam.”
“They called me Bambi for a while,” Rodriguez said. “But I didn’t like that too much.”
Now, boxing fans recognise the nickname because of the power he possesses in his fists.
Rodriguez has 12 wins via knockout and is known for precision shots that can hurt or drop an opponent at any time. Against Edwards -- a fighter known for his defense -- Rodriguez landed 62.1% of his power shots. He has a +/- of +18.9 and ranks first among all active boxers with a power connect percentage mark of 48.8%.