Jesse Rodriguez won the vacant WBO flyweight title in San Antonio, Texas, with a unanimous decision victory over Cristian Gonzalez.
At 23 years old, Rodriguez became a two-weight world champion, despite having a broken jaw in the sixth round, which came to light after the fight.
At the beginning of the fight, Rodriguez aimed to apply pressure on Gonzalez by attacking the body. In the third round, Gonzalez switched between southpaw and orthodox, as a powerful right hand left Gonzalez buzzed.
Big shots from Bam Rodriguez 😮💨#RodriguezGonzalez pic.twitter.com/Isl7rZOxY4
— DAZN Boxing (@DAZNBoxing) April 9, 2023
Throughout most of the fight, Gonzalez struggled to keep up with Rodriguez’s aggressive tactics. However, in the seventh round, Gonzalez began to fight back more fiercely.
And in the 11th round, there was some confusion over whether a knockdown had occurred on Rodriguez, but it was ultimately ruled a trip.
Despite Gonzalez’s efforts, Rodriguez walked out with a unanimous decision. The scores from the judges were as follows: 118-110, 117-111, and 116-112.
Before the fight, discussions centered around the possibility of Rodriguez facing Sunny Edwards, which will have to be revisited due to the broken jaw.
Co-Main Event
Marlon Tapales emerged as the new WBA and IBF champion, despite being the underdog in the 122-pound co-main event against Murodjon Akhmadaliev.
During the first round of the fight, it was fairly even before Tapales managed to land an uppercut that got his opponent’s attention. Thereafter, Akhmadaliev initiated a more aggressive approach to the fight.
In the fifth round, Tapales’ right hand caused Akhmadaliev’s nose to bleed. Although Akhmadaliev momentarily stunned Tapales with a right hook in the seventh round, Tapales kept landing powerful shots.
As the fight progressed, Akhmadaliev became more active. In the 10th round, a left hand broke through Tapales’ defense. And in doing so, he almost had Tapales on the canvas during the final round as the fight went to the scorecards.
Tapales won via a split decision: 115-113, 110-118 and 115-113.
MARLON TAPALES IS THE NEW UNIFIED CHAMPION 👏#RodriguezGonzalez pic.twitter.com/0eotyqHlwf
— DAZN Boxing (@DAZNBoxing) April 9, 2023
Rest Of The Card
Ray Ford def. Jessie Magdaleno via a unanimous decision – 119-107, 119-107, 116-110
Thomas Mattice def. Ramiro Cesena via a tenth-round TKO
Israil Madrimov def. Raphael Igbokwe via a unanimous decision – 100-90, 99-91, 99-91 Igbokwe
Marc Castro def. Ricardo Lopez via a seventh-round TKO
Jose Lopez def. Jesus Martinez via a split decision 39-37, 37-39, 38-38
Khalil Coe def. Jimmy Quiter via a third-round KO