Boxing Rankings: Bam Rodriguez Makes Top 5 in Ring Magazine’s Pound-for-Pound List, Above Tank and Bivol

Jesse ‘Bam’ Rodriguez utterly dominated Juan Francisco Estrada last weekend at the Footprint Center in Phoenix, a fight that is now being considered for ‘fight of the year’. Yet that’s not the only good news for the San Antonio native! His seventh round knockout win over Mexico’s ‘El Gallo’ seems to have pushed him in Ring Magazine’s pound for pound rankings above Gervonta Davis and Dmitry Bivol.

Rodriguez, who entered the bout a -600 favorite, hurt Estrada, +400 underdog, in the third round with an uppercut, and managed to knock him down in the fourth with a left uppercut, straight left combo. Yet, Estrada made a surprising comeback as he dropped ‘Bam’ in the sixth, but later succumbed to a crushing left hook to the body in the seventh round, ending the fight. It earned Rodriguez the WBC junior bantamweight title, and later a feature in the Ring Magazine rankings.

Where does Jesse ‘Bam’ Rodriguez stand in the top ten?

Despite being somewhat wronged by two of the judges, who had Estrada ahead when the fight ended, the new WBC junior bantamweight champion was promoted to the fifth spot in the prestigious Ring Magazine pound for pound rankings. Interestingly, Rodriguez is ranked No.1 behind Estrada in the WBC junior bantamweight rankings, as of the time of writing, which may soon be updated.

But hey, ‘Bam’ isn’t even in the WBA, IBF, and WBO junior bantamweight rankings. He was ranked tenth in Ring Magazine after beating Sunny Edwards last December, though. Anyway, here’s the scoop on the new Ring pound for pound list: Oleksandr Usyk, Naoya Inoue, Terence Crawford, Canelo Alvarez, ‘Bam’ Rodriguez, Artur Beterbiev, Dmitry Bivol, Gervonta Davis, Errol Spence Jr., and Junto Nakatani.

Check this out: Crawford, Beterbiev, and Bivol have upcoming fights lined up, so depending on how they perform, the rankings could see some changes down the road. And get this—Rodriguez’s promoter is already discussing a potential showdown with Inoue. Things are heating up!

Rodriguez vs. the Japanese ‘Monster’: Is it possible?

You see, Naoya Inoue has pretty much conquered the super bantamweight division, reaching undisputed status and all. Now, there’s talk that he might step up in weight to take on the bigger guys in the upper division. Exciting times ahead for boxing fans, huh? At the same time, Eddie Hearn told Matchroom Boxing, “Jesse versus [Naoya] Inoue is a fantasy fight, but it is also an incredible fight. They will probably end up missing each other, but who knows?”

But here’s the thing: Hearn believes that if Inoue remains at 122 pounds for the next few years, a matchup with Rodriguez is inevitable. Praising the 24-year-old champion, Hearn highlighted how boxers in the lower weight classes don’t get the respect they deserve, just to say, “Jesse Rodriguez should be mentioned, as I said in the ring, in the same sentence as Terence Crawford, [Oleksandr] Usyk, and [Naoya] Inoue—he is that good.”

After beating Juan Francisco Estrada, Jesse ‘Bam’ Rodriguez has totally shown he’s up there with the best, no matter the boxing divisions. Just look at his rise in the Ring Magazine rankings! So, what do you reckon? Should he be ranked higher than Davis and Bivol? What’s your take on it?