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Veteran Francisco Rodriguez Jr scored an upset in Birmingham, England, and did it in style, dominating Galal Yafai to win the interim WBC flyweight title on wide, unanimous decision scores.
Rodriguez won the fight on tallies of 118-109, 119-108, and 119-108, with no judge mysteriously seeing it closer than the rest of the world or anything. This was a purely one-sided fight, with respect to the toughness and heart of Yafai, and the scores reflected that.
Rodriguez (40-6-1, 27 KO) had come up short in big fights abroad many times in the past, though not for lack of good effort. In this one, he just took it to the 32-year-old Yafai (9-1, 7 KO), who was trying to fast track his way to a real world title fight after winning Olympic gold in Tokyo back in 2021.
No one should question Yafai’s heart or determination, as he took what might be a career-changing beating in this fight, and going forward will be something he has to think about. Despite the Olympic pedigree, Yafai has never been the stereotype of an “Olympic gold medalist,” as he’s more fighter than boxer and not always defensively responsible, to say the least.
Rodriguez tested that from the get-go, letting his hands fly as he put some pressure on Yafai, and Yafai was just never able to really get into the fight despite his best efforts. He was down once in the 12th and final round.
“We felt it was the only way to win, like we almost needed to steamroll him tonight. That’s what my team sent me out to do,” Rodriguez said. “I was facing an undefeated fighter, a star who was on the rise, and I had to work doubly hard. He was at home, as well. I was swimming against the current and we managed to get the job done.”
“I think he did really well to withstand shots,” Rodriguez said of Yafai. “But he also was clever. The fact that he was able to grab hold of me when he needed to stopped me from knocking him out. Had he not done that, had he not clinched so much, I would have knocked him out.”
The win could set Rodriguez, 32, up for a trip to Japan and a shot at unified WBC and WBA flyweight titleholder Kenshiro Teraji later this year. Rodriguez has gone to Japan twice in the past, losing to Kazuto Ioka and Junto Nakatani.
“I would really look forward to that. I want to say, Teraji, give me a call. We have a date pending after your fight in July, let’s get it done,” he said.
Teraji will face Ricardo Sandoval on July 30 in Yokohama.
Conah Walker continued his hot streak, retaining his British welterweight title with a seventh round knockout win over veteran Liam Taylor.
In a terrific action fight, a real battle, Taylor (28-3-1, 14 KO) gave it all he had, but he was mostly fighting the fight that Walker (16-3-1, 7 KO) wanted, and it paid off for Conah, as Taylor was just out of gas in round seven and there for the taking. Taylor went out swinging, though, and the 34-year-old has absolutely nothing to be ashamed of with that effort and the career he’s had, he’s a battler and he put the work in, but Walker, 30, is just on a fantastic run of form at domestic level right now, really understands what he is and isn’t as a fighter, and works hard to accentuate the positives.
Peter McGrail handled his business pretty nicely against late substitute opponent Ionut Baluta, winning a majority decision on scores of 95-95, 97-93, and 97-93, and it was the even card that was the most questionable, at least from where I sit.
McGrail (12-1, 6 KO) has responded nicely with four straight wins after his upset loss to Ja’Rico O’Quinn, who has done absolutely nothing since other than bail out of a planned rematch with McGrail. Baluta (17-6-1, 3 KO) has been a tough nut to crack for many fighters over the years, and McGrail did a good job in this one, having originally been slated to face Shabaz Masoud. Hopefully that one does get rescheduled, because style-wise I think it could be really interesting.
Pat Brown went to 2-0 (2 KO) with an easy third round stoppage of Croatia’s Ivan Duka (5-6, 3 KO). Brown figures to settle at cruiserweight when his career gets serious, though for now he’s fighting with contract limits a bit north of 200 lbs. He’s a promising young fighter.
Speaking of, 18-year-old Tiah-Mai Ayton made an eye-catching pro debut, as she stopped Sara Orszagi (3-7, 0 KO) in the third round of a one-sided fight.
The matchup was chosen to be what it was, but Ayton truly is someone to put on your radar in women’s boxing, and she is perhaps an early look at the kind of young fighter we’re going to see going pro more and more on the women’s side of the sport. We’re now 13 years removed from women’s boxing first hitting the Olympics, and we’re going to see a lot more of these young women who have been boxing since they were small children, just as it has been forever in men’s boxing, because the fabric of women’s boxing has changed with the Olympics and far greater spotlight on the pro ranks after the Games in London, Rio, and Tokyo. You’re going to see young women turning pro with much more class and pedigree than in the past, far more regularly. It’s an exciting thing, and it’s something that will continue to happen in the years to come.
