Robert Garcia has been with Jesse
Rodriguez almost from the beginning. The renown trainer brought Jesse to his gym when the fighter was just 15. Immediately, Garcia recognized
"Bam" Rodriguez's profound talent. From the footwork to the punch
variety to the poise, Rodriguez stood out even in a gym full of great
fighters.
Rodriguez (20-0, 13 KOs) defends
his junior bantamweight world title on November 9th against Pedro Guevara
(42-4-1, 22 KOs) in Philadelphia. 2024 has already seen Bam stop the legendary
Juan Estrada, but he did taste the canvas for the first time in his professional
career during that fight. Should Bam get past Guevara, he is looking to become
undisputed at 115 lbs. in 2025.
I spoke with Robert Garcia about
his relationship with Bam, Bam's development as a fighter, the Estrada fight, and
what Bam needs to continue to work on in the gym.
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Jesse "Bam" Rodriguez and Robert Garcia
Photo courtesy of Robert Garcia |
This interview has been
edited.
How did you initially meet
Jesse?
We first met when he was 11 or 12. I
was training Nonito Donaire and we had a fight in San Antonio. Jesse jumped
in the ring with Donaire to do some shadowboxing. So, we met and took a
picture. But nothing happened there.
In 2016, his older brother,
Joshua Franco, came out of the amateurs. My son told me about Franco and Hector
Tanajara from San Antonio and he said that they were very good fighters. So, we
went to San Antonio and approached them. And we signed them with Golden Boy
Promotions.
Franco told me, you know I have a
little brother and that he is pretty good. Joshua reminded me that we had
met Bam a few years ago. And on his recommendation, we brought Bam to California to
train with us. Bam was 15.
What did you see from Bam that
immediately impressed you?
His talent. His skills. His
footwork really meant a lot to me. I love fighters with great footwork. One of
my favorite fighters was Orlando Canizales. I used to love his footwork. I tried to do a little of his footwork when I was fighting.
Bam was beautiful at what he did
and from day one. We knew that this kid was going to be special.
Let’s talk about his footwork.
It's very purposeful. It’s not just moving for the sake of moving. It’s subtle
shifts in the pocket, finding angles to land shots. How did he discover that
ability, because that's a very unusual skill set for a young fighter?
That’s true. But that’s something
natural that he has. Obviously, it’s something that he practices a lot in the
gym, in training and in sparring. We asked him to keep using that footwork and
then take those steps to convert a good hook or a good uppercut. It was adding
a little bit to his talent. It’s something that we continue to practice every
day and I think that’s why he's getting better and better.
You have a strong gym culture
at the Robert Garcia Boxing Academy. I’m sure that Jesse wanted to fight the
top guys when he got there, but I'm also sure that you had to protect him a little
bit in that he was just 16. What was the process like for preparing him for the
pros?
We had to be careful with who he
was sparring with at 15 and 16 because he was just a kid. He didn’t turn pro
until 17. He could make anybody look bad, but we still had to be careful
because of the strength of the grown men at the gym. He was always a small
kid. We turned him pro at 108 and he was very, very small. We couldn’t
find any pros in my gym who were his size, so he always sparred with younger
kids, the amateurs, stuff like that.
You are on record years ago as
saying that he was already the best fighter in the gym. How was that received
by other fighters in your gym and what was your thought process behind saying
that publicly?
Obviously, I have guys who are
bigger names because of the weight classes, Vergil Ortiz, Jose Ramirez, people
like that. I have Jose Valenzuela who just became champion. The weight
divisions do make a big difference.
But when it comes talent, this kid is just
special. These other guys are incredible. But Jesse is just different. Every
fighter in the gym knows it. He’s the special one.
What have you been working on
to develop from when he turned pro until now?
It’s reminding him what we’ve
been working on. I don’t have to correct too much. I don’t have to teach him
too much. A lot of it is just natural. It’s not really about teaching him. It’s
just reminding him that he’s the best, that nobody is better than you. It’s
just working at the gym every day.
Was there a point during Bam's
development when you knew he was ready for the world level?
I don’t think there was a
particular time or fight where I knew he was ready. I think it was from the
beginning. When he started his career as a professional, I knew that it would
happen soon. I didn’t think it would take that long. I didn’t think we would
need 30 professional fights to get there. Especially fighting at the smaller
weight classes, it wouldn't take that long.
The kid was so talented. The plan
was for him to become champion originally at 108. He was scheduled to fight for the
title on my brother Mikey’s card against Sandor Martin. But that fight fell
through. And then two months later, we got a call from Matchroom asking us if
Jesse was crazy enough to jump two divisions to fight Carlos Cuadras. And I said, yes,
he’s ready. And the rest is history.
In that there aren’t a lot of
great 108, 112, or even 115-lb. fighters in America, has it been difficult
getting him quality sparring?
In my gym I have guys in every
weight class all the way to 160 and 168. I don’t have a lot of guys at
108, but I have a lot of top guys at the smaller weights, so he gets a lot of
good sparring. We are also sparring junior featherweights and featherweights, and he has no problems sparring those guys.
A few years ago, Bam was on a great run, beating
Carlos Cuadras and knocking out Srisaket Sor Rungvisai. Then he had fights with Israel and Cristian Gonzalez where things didn’t go his way at times and he seemed frustrated at points. What were the learning experiences
from the two Gonzalez fights?
We have to be careful about
taking fights that don’t interest Bam. The Israel Gonzalez fight, the one on
the Canelo card, he didn’t want that fight. I thought after knocking out Sor
Rungvisai that it would be the perfect opportunity to be the co-main event to
Canelo, but he didn’t want it. That didn’t motivate him, especially against a
guy that nobody really knew.
So, now we’ve learned that for him to
perform, to mentally prepare himself to give his best in the ring, he has to
have a meaningful fight. He told me before his last fight, before Estrada was confirmed, that if it’s not El Gallo [Estrada] next, then he
didn’t want to fight. We already had a date for him, but he said if it
wasn’t El Gallo then he was going to sit out until the right
fight came along.
This fight coming up, against
Guevara, he has to take the fight because it’s his mandatory and the WBC could
potentially strip him if he doesn’t fight. All he wants to do is unify. The
other champions aren’t available right now. We had to take this fight. But he
wants meaningful fights. The plan next year is for two fights. And he wants it
to be against the two champions at 115 lbs.
As mandatories go, Pedro
Guevara is a very good fighter. He’s had four losses during his career and all
have been by split or majority decision. He’s very smart in the ring. He never
beats himself. What are your thoughts about him?
I think Guevara’s a great
fighter. He puts up a good fight. And that’s why Bam is training hard. In Bam’s
mind, he wants to become undisputed next year. That’s his goal, so he’s taking
this fight very seriously. I think Guevara will put up a great fight and he will
bring the best out of Jesse.
Let’s go back to the Estrada
fight. Bam did a lot of good things that night. He had that memorable knockout
with the uppercut in the seventh round. But he did get knocked down in the
fight. What were your overall impressions of his performance against Estrada?
Going into the fight, I thought
that it was going to be more difficult than what it turned out to be. I think
Estrada’s experience and beautiful skills and style…I thought the fight was
going to be more difficult and challenging. But from round one, I noticed the
domination. Bam was having fun.
But he was being a little
careless after he dropped Estrada in the fourth. I kept reminding him during one of
the breaks, after the fifth, I said you can’t get too careless. This guy is
still dangerous. This guy has experience. And then when the bell rang for
the sixth, that’s when he got dropped.
He wasn’t hurt. He looked at me
and smiled. And after the bell rang in the sixth, I said, what did I tell you? He said, you were right. I said, that’s OK. Don’t get careless because he’s
very good in the later rounds.
And we still had half the fight to go. Good thing
he knocked him out in the seventh because we had so much of the fight left. It could have been different, where Estrada’s experience could have become
a big factor.
Were you concerned about the
knockdown?
No. Right away I saw the way he
smiled. The way he looked at us. He laughed. I wasn’t concerned at all. I
remember when my brother [Mikey] was knocked down by Rocky Martinez. He got up
and looked at me and smiled. It was one of those times. These things happen.
It’s a good thing that it happened to Bam, because he had never been dropped.
Now he’s gotten dropped and he knows what it feels like.
What are some of the things
that you are working on with Jesse for him to become the best version
of himself in the ring?
We are working on his defense,
his reflexes. When it comes to making his opponents miss, there are some
punches that still land. Especially for Guevara, who has seen Bam’s last fight
against El Gallo, I’m not saying they have the same style,
but they are both right-handed and Guevara has seen the right hand that landed
and dropped Bam. So, I’m sure he’s going to look for that right hand.
Not that Bam gets hit with a
lot of punches, but when he gets a little too careless, a little too
comfortable, he doesn’t worry about making his opponents miss. So, we are
working on that and we continue to work on that every day.
He's a contributing writer for Ring Magazine, a member of the Ring Magazine Ratings Panel, the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board, and the Boxing Writers Association of America.
