Little giants

I fell in love with 115 pounds for several reasons, a few years ago Roman Gonzalez reigned in the PXP rankings and behind him he had a marked group of boxers who gave us tremendous battles, Francisco “Gallo” Estrada, Carlos “Principe” Cuadras and Sisraket Sor Rungvisai, along with other strong talents who were pushing in the division but these 4 warriors were the protagonists of the 115 until just 3 years ago, when a tremendous talent came on the scene Jese “Bam” Rodriguez who emerged as an up and comer to face Carlos Cuadras in a world title fight that was originally planned for Rungvisai, I was fortunate to spend that preparation close to Cuadras, all the preparation was done for Rungvisai, which in the end fell apart with 3 days notice, Cuadras had to change his entire fight strategy for a fighter who was unknown up to that point.

What happened that night is in my favorite boxing moments, Rodriguez didn’t come from flyweight, he came from flyweight and he dared to move up two divisions in 3 days, to give a tremendous boxing class to a former world champion the size of Cuadras, Cuadras is not to be underestimated, he was a Pan American gold and one of the most resourceful boxers in the division, but Rodriguez made him look like a rookie, that night I had a mix of emotions inside me, I was watching the fall of a great master and the birth of one of the most technical boxers I have ever seen, “Bam” Rodriguez was crowned WBC super flyweight world champion and just a few months later he gave us another crushing victory against Rungvisai, he destroyed him, Jesse closed his reign against a complicated Israel “Jiga” Gonzalez, another contender in the division who had already fought for the title against Yafai and “Chocolatito”, Jesse passed over him.

Jesse’s path moved to 112 lbs, where he is already world champion and I think he has the quality to unify the division, but the 115 is still on fire, Estrada and “Chocolatito” are still leading the division, two tremendous champions, but the new generation is pure gold, Kazuto Ioka, Kosei Tanaka, Fernando Martinez, Junto Nakatani and strong prospects like David Cuellar and Argi Cortes, plus the WBC ordered the Pedro Guevara vs. Carlos Cuadras fight to get a contender for the championship held by Francisco “Gallo” Estrada.

I don’t know how much time is left for these great stars of the division, who for years have given us epic fights, I am excited to see the new faces of the 115 lbs, very complete boxers, Japanese who continue to raise their hands as the best fighters in the world.

As I always say, the most exciting thing about boxing is that it never ends.