Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez vs Cristian Gonzalez vacant title fight set for April 8th in San Antonio

Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez’s bid for flyweight gold will be a hometown affair, as Mike Coppinger reports and Jake Donovan confirms that he’ll face Cristian Gonzalez for the vacant WBO title on April 8th in San Antonio.

Rodriguez (17-0, 11 KO) returns to 112 for the first time since a late-notice step-up turned into a three-fight super flyweight stint, which saw him defeat Carlos Cuadras for the WBC title, defend it with a clinical dissection of Srisaket Sor Rungvisai, and finally grit his way past an unexpectedly tough Israel Gonzalez.

Flyweight is definitely his more natural weight class at this point, as he tended to come in one or two pounds under the 112-pound limit. It won’t be a victory lap, though; the 23-year-old Gonzalez (15-1, 5 KO) can definitely fight, falling only to the extremely capabale Angel Ayala Lardizabal in 2019.

Fingers crossed they can get Joshua Franco on this show as well. Four months should be plenty of timeto recover from the Ioka fight and get in a solid training camp.