Boxing pound-for-pound rankings: How far does ‘Bam’ Rodriguez move up?

A young fighter has been making noise in the last couple of years, taking over different weight classes and moving up the ranks. And with his performance against future Hall of Famer Juan Francisco Estrada on June 29, Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez earned high praise from our panel of experts.

Rodriguez (20-0, 13 KOs) dominated Estrada en route to a seventh-round KO win to collect the WBC junior bantamweight title. Rodriguez is only 24 years old, but he has already won titles in two weight classes. He’s also ESPN’s top fighter under the age of 25.

Rodriguez’s victory over Estrada was impressive and prompted most of our panelists to move him up on their P4P lists.

“‘Bam’ Rodriguez has quickly established himself as an elite, must-see fighter. He doesn’t just outbox his opponents; he dismantles top-level foes,” ESPN boxing writer Mike Coppinger said about moving Rodriguez three spots to No. 5 on his list. “The latest illustration of his greatness: the way he picked apart Estrada. Rodriguez has joined the likes of Terence Crawford, Oleksandr Usyk, Canelo Alvarez and Naoya Inoue, versatile fighters who are favorites no matter whom they fight.”