Jesse Rodriguez soundly defeats and stops Jose Alejandro Burgos
In his most recent at bat, after a near full year of inactivity, flyweight prospect Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez (14-0, 10 KO’s) kept his sterling record unblemished. He did this by beating late replacement Jose Alejandro “El Nino” Burgos (18-5-1, 15 KO’s) by way of fourth round knockout. At this time, it is not yet known why the original opponent, WBA “regular” world champion Esteban Bermudez, did not compete.
Trained by Robert Garcia, Rodriguez is someone who has talent in spades. He’s great at creating angles to find a home for his punches. In that regard, he’s very much like a 108-pound version of former multiple-time world champion Vasyl Lomachenko. The southpaw from San Antonio, Texas can box on the outside, is good at midrange, and can fight on the inside. He’s also defensively responsible. Rodriguez has the look of a future star.
Burgos is a 26-year-old resident of Los Angeles who likes to apply pressure and work the body. He’s someone coming to fight, and willing to take a shot to land one of his own. However, he does suffer from leaky defense and tends to fight with his hands low. In fact, the solid and tough veteran actually entered into the fight coming off a June 19 unanimous decision loss to Saleto Henderson.
Conversely, Rodriguez strode into this dustup with his chest poked out full of confidence and moxie. This is due to his five consecutive, now six, knockout streak. While this is an impressive, if not glossy, highlight it must be remembered that these were not world beaters being laid low. Therefore, it will be interesting to see how Bam continues to develop and if he can keep the stoppages coming as the competition level increases.
LAMB LED TO SLAUGHTER
From the opening of the first round, it was easily evident that Rodriguez had the better feet. Without running, he deftly used angles to slide in and out of punching range while effectively dictating the pace. When entering and exiting, Bam landed picture perfect jabs and follow-up straight rights. Several of those straight rights left Burgos with his head snapping back. El Nino was far from a punching bag though. He devoted the greater bulk of his attention and offense to the body. He gave Bam a fair amount to think about with a piercing right hook to the belly.
Rodriguez would twirl around Burgos and continue to bake him like a rotisserie chicken for the second and third rounds. Then in the fourth, Bam wobbled La Nino with a series of punches but finally failed him with a crisp left hook on the tip of the chin. Burgos made it to his feet but stood on legs that were shakier than a professional grade paint mixer. Unsurprisingly, Rodriguez was all over him like grease on cheap fries at the first opportunity. With his knees soft as a cup of warm Yoplait yogurt, and eating more shots than Tony Montana in that infamous home invasion, referee Raul Caiz Jr jumped in to save him from further damage. It was both a great win and good stoppage.
By: Bakari Simpson
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