Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez hopes that fighting in front of a hometown crowd for only the fourth time in his career will lift him to victory when he faces Cristian Gonzalez for a vacant flyweight belt on Saturday night.
Rodriguez (17-0, 11 KOs) fought twice in his native San Antonio, Texas early in his career, and returned last June when he stopped Srisaket Sor Rungvisai in eight rounds to defend the WBC superfly championship he had claimed four months earlier against Carlos Cuadras. After making one more successful defense of his title, against Israel Gonzalez in Las Vegas in September, he is moving back down to 112 pounds as he seeks to become a two-weight world titlist. The fight against Cristian Gonzalez (15-1, 5 KOs) will be at the same venue as his Rungvisai win, the new Boeing Center at Tech Port arena in downtown San Antonio.
"Fights in San Antonio are just different for me," said Rodriguez, per a press release from Matchroom USA. "The last one against Rungvisai in San Antonio was electric and exciting, so to get another opportunity to fight for another World title there in front of my fans is amazing.
"San Antonio means everything to me, it's where I was born and raised, my family and my people are there and whenever I step in the ring, they are with me. I represent San Antonio when I step in the ring, and I am doing this for my city.
"The Rungvisai night was amazing. There was a lot of talk that I was going to get knocked out, that Rungvisai was too much for me, so when I stopped him, it was a moment I will never forget. The emotions were so high, that's why I just fell to the floor, it was an amazing feeling.
"Gonzalez is ranked #2, he's tall, he's lengthy and he likes to move a lot. So, we've been working on how I will close the distance and cut off the ring, I've been sparring taller guys so on April 8, there's not going to be a problem for me to go in there and show what we've been working on."
