Francisco Rodríguez Jr. He pulled Galal Yafai into a fight, and then mercilessly overtook him to approach the shot at WBC World Flyweight Title.
Rodríguez was too powerful, too aggressive and too busy for Yafai, who on Saturday lost his momentary WBC title in Birmingham, England.
Rodríguez, a former world champion (mass of straw), Rodríguez, made Yafai aware of the last round of the dazzling performance, which suggests that it can be a force in a flying weight.
Rodríguez (40-6-1, 27 KO) triumphed by the results 119-108, 119-108 and 118-109 over Yafai (9-1, 7 KO) on Bishop Pulse Live Arena (formerly NEC Arena) to reserve in the world champion this year.
Yafai was overwhelmed by the cruelty and power of Rodríguez, who progresses in the face of the winner of the clash between Japan Kenshiro Teraji (25-1, 16 Kos), WBC and WBA champion and Ricardo Rafael Sandoval (26-2, 18 Kos), from California, in Japan, July 30.
“After so many defeats, we managed to achieve our goals,” said Rodríguez later by the translator.
“We felt that this was the only way to win – to evaporate it. We won it. I faced the stars, fought at home, swam against electricity, so I had to work difficult.
“Call me, after fighting in July, we have a date.”
It was the first professional defeat of Yafai, who won the Olympic gold medal in the flyweight in 2021 and impressively stopped the former World Flyweight IBF Bright Edwards, his English rival, on November 6 last year.
But 32 -year -old Yafai, whose older brother, reigned as a WBA master Munior Bantamweight in 2016-2020, from the very beginning played Rodriguez.
The 32 -year -old Rodríguez from Monterrey reigned as a minimum master of WBO and IBF World World in 2014–2015, but recently he conducted a campaign at Junior Bantamweight and took advantage of the division for this possibility of this title.
Rodríguez, who has not lost since losing to World Bantamweight No. 1 Junto donated in 2022, began a quick start and convincingly won round 1. Rodríguez even shaken Yafai with a low upper left mining for a moment, when his high pace worked his opponent.
Southpaw Yafai, who worked in a car factory south of Birmingham 10 years ago, could not keep boxing on a reach, because Rodríguez constantly tied him to keep him fighting closely.
Rodríguez’s aggression meant that Yafai could not settle in his ordinary boxing, and Mexican blows landed with more, including two large left hooks in round 3.
Yafai suffered a cut above his left eye in round 2, and until round 4 blood spilled across his face, which seemed to prompt the boxer from Birmingham to intensify the attack.
Yafai was significantly improved in fifth place, because he constantly and smoothly accumulated combinations that disturbed the rhythm of Rodriguez, which dictated most of the early rounds. Rodríguez, who was also cut over the left eye, was again on the ass in round 6, but then he started furious for round 7, and Yafai was sent back on the heels on his left hand.
Rodríguez was maybe landed on the best hit of the fight in round 8, hidden upper left upper corner, but before the start of the 9th round the Ringside doctor was a disturbing moment when the Ringside doctor glanced above the left eye of Rodríguez.
They both went to KO in round 9, but Rodríguez graduated better with Fusillade hooks.
Despite the cut, Rodríguez was more expert and powerful with his blows. In addition to being more hazardous in his blows, Rodríguez also defeated the home hero.
Yafai was behind later rounds, so it’s not time to try to box, but he still caught and at the beginning of the 12th round, when Rodríguez took him with two right hooks and left hooks that landed rinsing.
Yafai, whose left eye was also a mess, looked defenseless for the rest of the round, when Rodríguez began, as he finished, at the top.
Top trainer and former world champion Robert Garcia has considered the outcome of a fantasy showdown between Terence Crawford and Manny Pacquiao.
The two generational greats reportedly came close to squaring off in 2021, back when Crawford was the WBO welterweight champion and ‘Pac Man’ held the WBA title.
Their unification match never materialised, though, as Pacquiao was scheduled to face Errol Spence Jr before ‘The Truth’ pulled out with a torn retina.
Instead, the Filipino legend ended up losing his WBA title to Yordenis Ugas at a stage when, while still serviceable, he was quite clearly past his best.
Crawford, meanwhile, was hitting top form around this time, just a few fights away from producing arguably a career-best performance against Spence.
He did, of course, manage to stop his welterweight rival in nine rounds, before moving up to 168lbs and becoming a three-division undisputed champion by dethroning Canelo Alvarez last September.
Based on those two performances, coach Garcia has told ESNEWS that he would favour ‘Bud’ to defeat even a prime version of Pacquiao.
“The Crawford that beat Spence – and the Crawford that beat Canelo – would probably beat Manny.”
While Crawford’s prime almost certainly came during his run of eight stoppages at welterweight, it is harder to pinpoint when Pacquiao ultimately reached his peak.
In terms of his most destructive performance at world level, however, many will point towards his second-round finish over Ricky Hatton in 2009.
While facing the ‘Hitman’ at 140lbs, Pacquiao would cement himself as a formidable welterweight champion soon after, dethroning Miguel Cotto with a 12th-round stoppage for the WBO title.
Former world champion Oleksandr Gvozdyk has been left between a rock and a hard place afterhis promotional contract with Zuffa Boxing has been terminated.
The Ukrainian dethroned long-reigning light-heavyweight champion Adonis Stevenson in 2018, scoring an 11th-round stoppage that left his opponent with a brain injury.
Gvozdyk then made a WBC title defence before losing to Artur Beterbievwho extended his ruthless surge with a 10th-round finish in their 2019 encounter.
Since that defeat, ‘The Nail’ suffered a unanimous decision loss to David Benavidez in 2024, before entering a perceived 50/50 contest against Radivoje ‘Hot Rod’ Kalajdzic in February.
With both making their Zuffa debut, the two veterans delivered a thrilling battle in which Gvozdyk scored two knockdowns and had built a sizable lead.
In round seven, though, the 39-year-old found himself on the canvas and was ultimately stopped on his feet after getting dropped a second time.
Given his overall performance, one would suspect he had done enough to justify another meaningful opportunity, yet Gvozdyk has since told vRINGe that he will no longer be fighting under the Zuffa banner.
“They terminated the contract in February after a loss. That is, every promoter has the option that if a boxer loses, they have the right to terminate the contract. That’s exactly what they did. After the fight, everyone was saying how great it was. That everything was great. I rested. I started preparing as planned – somewhere around May. And then, around April, they told me I’d received an email terminating the contract.”
This is because his contract has been terminated, while Kalajdzic’s next outing with Dana White’s promotional outfit is confirmed for September 26 against Craig Richards.
As for Gvozdyk, it is difficult to predict what will come next but, at the age of 39, one would suspect that he is close to hanging up the gloves.
Still, he could hardly have been happy to part ways with Zuffa, which also terminated its contract with Robert Meriwether following his defeat to Tony Hirsch Jr in April.
Former British champion and Olympic bronze medallist David Price has assessed whether his countryman, Conor Bennpossesses the necessary hand speed to defeat Ryan Garcia.
The two welterweights will square off at Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena on September 12, with Garcia making a first defence of his WBC world title.
It was arguably a career-best performance that saw him dethrone Mario Barrios in February, scoring a first-round knockdown before winning a wide unanimous decision.
But despite coming off this dominant display, Garcia was far less impressive when he returned from a year-long doping ban and lost on points to Rolando Romero in May 2025.
Still, many would argue that the 28-year-old has shown signs of world-class quality, while Benn remains glaringly unproven at the top level.
The 29-year-old has also not fought at 147lbs since 2022, with his last two outings resulting in unanimous decision victories over faded versions of Chris Eubank Jr and Regis Prograis.
Against Eubank, in particular, Benn’s speed seemed a key factor in their two middleweight encounters last year, despite him suffering a points defeat the first time around.
As he approaches this welterweight contest against Garcia, though, former heavyweight contender Price has told The Smith Brothers that he sees Benn contending with an unfamiliar disadvantage.
“I think I [favour Garcia]. Conor Benn’s got great hand speed, but I think [Garcia’s] hand speed could make the difference in the fight.”
Like Garcia, Benn tested positive for a banned substance – clomifene – and was eventually removed from his cancelled 2022 encounter with Eubank.
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