Facing another undefeated super flyweight champion, Fernando Martinez, Rodriguez made a champion look like an overmatched challenger on his way to a 10th-round knockout victory in Saudi Arabia. Rodriguez, already the WBC and WBO champion at 115 pounds, claimed the WBA title from Martinez with ease.
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Each round was a repeated rinse until the end. Rodriguez couldn’t follow the footwork of a boxer ranked fifth in Uncrowned’s pound-for-pound rankings, until the blow that ended it all. As Martinez lay on the mat, he seemed well aware that getting up would simply keep him on track to score on the scorecards.
Rodríguez landed more, harder punches and left his opponent more damaged, with Martínez’s nose clearly broken in the middle rounds.
Before the fight, Rodriguez said he was interested in just one more fight at super flyweight if he won on Saturday, against IBF champion Willibaldo Garcia to become the undisputed champion of the division. After that, he plans to move up to bantamweight and face the likes of Naoya Inoue and Junto Nakatani.
Watch Uncrowned’s complete coverage of Saturday’s PPV between David Benavidez and Anthony Yarde in Riyadh, including live results, play-by-play and highlights from the entire main card.