Robert Garcia Responds To Sunny Edwards Regarding the Jesse Rodriguez Fight
Tensions continue to escalate between flyweights Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez (17-0, 11 KOs) and IBF champion Sunny Edwards (18-0, 4 KOs). Team Rodriguez is getting fed up with Edwards’s claims they are avoiding a match with him.
Rodriguez will face Cristian Hernandez Gonzalez for the vacant WBO flyweight title on April 8. In the lead-up to that fight, Edwards claimed that he signed a contract to fight Bam, should he defeat Gonzalez. The reigning IBF champion is now on record claiming Rodriguez said no to fighting him. In response, Rodriguez’s trainer, Robert Garcia went to social media to protest Edward’s accusations.
TIMING IS EVERYTHING
Edwards recently signed a deal with Matchroom Promotions. He has been out of action since a unanimous decision victory over former IBF junior flyweight champion Felix Alvarado in November 2022. The IBF champion is hungry to engage in a high-profile fight at either 112 or 115.
Rodriguez is not afraid to face Edwards. It’s more likely a case that Bam and his camp don’t want to count their chickens before they hatch. Any talk of a fight with Edwards is a moot point if Bam fails to defeat Gonzalez. Having previously won the WBC title at 115, Rodriguez has stated his ultimate goal is to become a unified champion at 112.
Both Ewards and Rodriguez are under the Matchroom stable. If Rodriguez wins the WBO crown on April 8, one would guess that the company’s Chairman, Eddie Hearn, will have a long-term strategy of putting these two fighters in the ring. Rodriguez is from Texas, and Edwards would be more than willing to go to the United States to make the fight. While the two parties are barking at each other now, patience is the key to an eventual Edwards-Rodriguez showdown happening.
