Jesse Rodriguez expanded his legacy to become a three-division world champion on Saturday, securing a dominant sixth-round knockout victory over Antonio Vargas. However, a highly anticipated move up in weight to challenge pound-for-pound star Naoya Inoue may be delayed.
Following Inoue’s recent undisputed super-bantamweight title defense against Junto Nakatani, Rodriguez had emerged as the primary candidate for the champion’s next opponent, with widespread reports suggesting a bout was already in development.
Having previously vacated his unified super-flyweight titles, ‘Bam’ made his bantamweight debut this past weekend, claiming the WBA title via a knockout. Despite the victory, analysts noted that the increase in size appeared to impact Rodriguez during the fight.
Speaking with DAZN, trainer Robert Garcia emphasized the need for Rodriguez to “pace himself,” suggesting one additional fight at bantamweight is necessary before jumping to 122lbs to challenge Inoue.
“After the fight, he did tell me, ‘Listen, I did feel the strength’, he is a bigger guy so why would we go straight into another division which is going to make a big difference. We have got to pace ourselves.”
“I have no doubt that he is going to go out there and perform against Inoue and that he is going to beat Inoue. But, I need that one more fight before that.”
Regarding potential bantamweight matchups, Garcia expressed a preference for WBO champion Christian Medina over WBC titleholder Takuma Inoue, the brother of ‘The Monster’.
“Me personally, I would prefer Medina because he is a very strong fighter and he is going to give us a test.”
While Rodriguez focuses on unification options, he is also under pressure from the WBA to face ‘champion-in-recess’ Seiya Tsutsumi. The governing body has ordered the bout, warning that Rodriguez will be stripped of his WBA title if the fight does not occur within six months.
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