By Kyle Kinder-
Julian “Hammer Hands” Rodriguez was just eight years old when he started boxing competitively. As an amateur he racked up a laundry list of honors, including a 2013 National Golden Gloves Title. As a professional, he has compiled a perfect record to date; 21-0, 14 kayos. His 18-plus year journey between the ropes now leads him to Las Vegas on June 12 where he’ll face the toughest challenge of his career against former two-division world champion Jose Pedraza (28-3, 13KO).
“This is a big stepping stone for me,” Rodgriguez, a New Jersey-native, acknowledged. “If I get through Pedraza…I’ll be at the top of 140, and that’s what we’re aiming for.”
While Scotland’s Josh Taylor just claimed King of the Junior Welterweight Castle with his convincing victory over Jose Ramirez, a win against Pedraza would put Rodriguez right in the mix in a deep 140 pound division.
Perhaps adding a bit of pressure on Rodriguez for his next bout is the fact his contract with Top Rank expires in July. With that in the back of his mind, he knows the Pedraza fight is an opportunity for him to gain leverage for upcoming contract negotiations, whether those be with Top Rank or another promotional outfit.
To date, Rodriguez, a New Jersey native, has fought his entire pro career under the Top Rank banner. After turning pro in 2013, he overpowered early opposition, mowing down eight of his first nine rivals. But in 2015 he started to experience shoulder pain, something he initially thought was normal boxing wear and tear. It was a tolerable soreness, but he eventually found out the source of his pain was abnormal, and there were actual tears. For over a year, Rodriguez opted to fight through his injuries, but in 2017 he underwent surgery to repair the torn labrum in his left shoulder.
Ever the optimist, Rodriguez thinks the times he fought with his shoulder injury actually helped mature him into a more well-rounded boxer.
“Once I had the injury I didn’t know for a long time, I just felt like my arm was injured and I just had to change my style up,” Rodriguez said. “So I was actually fighting with tears in my shoulder which caused me to change my style up and box more and use more of my footwork and utilize different tools in my arsenal. In a way, I always look at the positive in everything so I took the time to focus on other things, sharpening my other tools.”
The shoulder surgery and subsequent rehab ultimately kept Rodriguez out of the ring for 22 months. Since returning to the ring in July 2019, Rodriguez has stopped four of his five opponents before the final bell.
“Once I was all healed up I felt like my footwork was better, my jab was better, and of course my power came back,” said Rodriguez.
Now, just weeks away from squaring off against Pedraza, Rodriguez is confident all the sacrifices made in the name of boxing since he was an eight year old kid have prepared him to pass his most difficult test with flying colors. While conscious that Pedraza poses a grave threat to his career progression, Rodriguez can’t find anything about his opponent’s skillset that concerns him.
“I have respect for the fact that he’s been world champion and that he has experience, but I feel like everything that he has, I do it better,” Rodriguez said. “In terms of hand speed, in terms of power, in terms of foot-movement, head-movement, I don’t think in terms of skill that he surpasses me in anything.”
He added, “We see a lot of holes [in Pedraza’s game]. It’s pretty much whatever fight we want to fight, I think we’ll be good.”
As fighters often do, Rodriguez has played out his upcoming fight in his head multiple times. He says he has visualized various scenarios and is prepared to adapt with the ebb and flow of the fight to achieve victory. Deep down however, Rodriguez thinks he becomes just the second boxer to stop Pedraza inside the distance.
“Based on how this camp is going, I don’t see how this guy is going to pass 6 rounds, I don’t,” Rodriguez said. “The pressure, the output volume of punches, the bodywork, I feel like I’m the naturally bigger guy too. I just don’t feel like he’s going to be able to take these punches for that long…We’re right where we want to be. We’ve had great sparring, and this guy’s going to go through hell on the 12th.”
