Jesse ‘Bam’ Rodriguez (20-0, 13 KOs) was too young, too big, and too powerful for the old warrior Juan Francisco Estrada (44-4, 28 KOs), as he stopped him with a seventh-round knockout on Saturday night at the Footprint Center in Phoenix, Arizona.
Bam Rodriguez flattened Estrada with a left to the midsection in round seven. Estrada rolled around on the canvas in pain, too hurt to continue, leaving referee Chris Flores with no choice but to wave it off. The time of the stoppage was at 3:00 of round seven.
Estrada had knocked Rodriguez down with a right hand in the sixth round, and he was too aggressive in the seventh, which resulted in him getting stopped.
Rodriguez knocked Estrada down with a right hand in the fifth, and had him hurt throughout the contest. Estrada looked old and weight-drained tonight and nothing like what he had in his last three contests.
Undercard results:
– Sunny Edwards (21-1, 4 KO) boxed his way to an eight-round Technical Decision over former IBF light flyweight champion Adrian Curiel (24-6-1, 5 KOs). The fight was stopped because of a bad cut on Edward’s forehead.
The cut had occurred in the sixth round from an accidental clash of heads. The judges’ scores were 90-82, 88-84, and 87-85.
– WBC female super bantamweight champion Yamileth Mercado (24-3, 5 KOs) defeated challenger Ramla Ali (9-2, 2 KOs) by a competitive ten-round unanimous decision. Both fighters had their moments, but Mercado had too much fire power for Ramla to handle. The judges’ sores were 98-92, 98-93, and 97-93.
