By Norm Frauenheim –
PHOENIX, AZ — Eddie Hearn foresees the Bam Rodriguez-Juan Francisco Estrada bout Saturday night as a potential Fight of the Year, one that could have pound-for-pound implications.
“Going into Saturday, I’d say this the best fight so far this year,” Hearn, of Matchroom Promotions, said Thursday at a news conference featuring Rodriguez and Estrada at a redone old building in a warehouse district south of Footprint Center. “Bam is in for a big test. Estrada is proven. He looks fresh.”
The 34-year-old Estrada is a decade younger than the emerging Bam, a Mexican-American from San Antonio who is fighting in Phoenix for the second straight time after his pound-for-pound attention-getting victory over Sunny Edwards last December at Desert Diamond Arena in nearby Glendale.
A big victory over the accomplished Estrada could vault Rodriguez into the top of the pound-for-pound debate alongside Naoya Inoue, Oleksandr Usyk and Terence Crawford, according to Hearn.
“He’s only 24 years old,” the promoter said. “He’s just beginning. A phenomenal performance here against Estrada would set up some enormous fights.”
Phenomenal probably means a stoppage. Bam sounded confident that he could pull one off against the tactically-skilled Estrada, the son of a Mexican fisherman who grew up 215-miles south of Phoenix in a town named Puerto Penasco..
“I think I have the skills to stop any one,” Bam said.
But he also knows he never faced anybody better than Estrada, the World Boxing Council’s 115-pound champion.
“This is my biggest fight ever,” Bam said.
Estada, nicknamed El Gallo, says he stands in the way of Bam’s bold ambitions.
“It’s going to be a real good weekend, especially for the Mexican people,” Estrada said. “It’s a chance to show that El Gallo still has things to do in this sport.”
