Second time lucky, at least that’s what Jonathan Rodriguez is hoping.
Rodriguez, rated at No. 10 by The Ring at junior bantamweight, will challenge Kosei Tanaka for the WBO title at Kokugikan, Tokyo, Japan, on Saturday.
“My only thought is to become a world champion,” Rodriguez (25-2-1, 17 knockouts) told The Ring through promoter Paco Damian. “I’m working very hard, I’m very motivated. We know the task ahead, he is a great champion and great fighter but my objective to become a world champion.”
The 28-year-old father of two from San Luis Potosi, Mexico is very respectful of the four-division titleholder’s ability but also see’s areas he can exploit and expects Tanaka’s style to mesh well with his and produce a fan-friendly fight.
“He has a beautiful left hand, that’s the one we have been careful [of] we have been preparing and training for that,” he said. “His left hand is faster than his feet. He’s not very fast with his leg movement. He sometimes stays stationary.
“He also receives punishment, he likes to go back and forth, we do too. We’re going to put on a lot of pressure [on him.] What we saw is that a lot of the time when he’s in the mid-range or when he gets exchanging, he gets hit. We saw that [in his only loss] against [Kazuto] Ioka in the three knockdowns he suffered and our plan is to put a lot of pressure on and work hard round-by-round and hopefully towards the end we’ll be able to get a stoppage. It’s going to be very difficult to do but we’re working very hard for it. We know the importance of this opportunity.”
The fight will end a year of inactivity for Rodriguez. However, there are a few reasons for that.
“One of the reasons was I suffered a knee injury on my left knee, we had to go to therapy, we had to treat it, we have to give it a good time to heal,” he explained. “Now we are perfectly healthy, we are working very hard and now I am 100 percent.”
However, his trainer and manager Marco Rodriguez (no relation), who has trained him since 2020 and had put “Titan” through an 8-week training camp in Monterrey, Mexico, wanted to expand on that.
“Besides the knee injury there are other factors. It’s very unfortunate that some companies in Mexico didn’t want to give us the opportunity, sometimes this is what is what it is, ‘You take it and you’re with me or we don’t give you anything.’ So, a lot of the time with the little power they have, there are very few promoters in Mexico that have a deal with TV, so a lot of the time they like to take advantage of the fighters, they know, it’s us or nobody,” he elaborated. “We are very grateful we met Paco, we know he always finds opportunities for the fighters and that’s exactly what he did, we are very happy we signed with him.”
Meanwhile Rodriguez doesn’t feel the time off will hinder him.
“No, I’m very motivated, I don’t see it as something against me,” he said. “I feel smart in the ring, I’m going to put [on] a lot of pressure and this is not going to be a distraction or something I think is against me. I’m going to prepare very well, I’m very motivated and I’m going there to win.”
This will present Rodriguez with his second world title opportunity having come up short against Jerwin Ancajas (UD 12) in 2021.
“It was a tough fight against a fighter that had a lot of experience, quite a few title defenses,” he explained. “And on my side, I felt I was very inexperienced. Why? Because I had never had never fought in the United States on a big stage like that. I have to admit, I was a little bit nervous, the first time leaving my home country to fight some place else for such a great big opportunity.
“I take that as an experience that is not going to happen this time against Tanaka. I feel I have the qualities now to do very well against him in Japan.”
Damian, who is a disciple of the late, great hall of fame promoter Don Chargin, is optimistic having got Rodriguez the title shot that his fighter can now go one further and become champion.
“This is an amazing fight, I live for these moments,” said Damian, who flew with the team to Japan on July 11. “Having the underdog, going to the home of the promoter and having a guy like Jonathan Rodriguez, a fighter, I know who is going to leave everything inside the ring. To be able to give this type of opportunity to these guys.
“[When] my good pal, Don Chargin, died, I thought I’m going to retire but later on I reflected and though, “All the time he put in me, everything he taught me, it would be a waste.” I decided to stay and I want to do exactly what is happening to Jonathan. It was hard for him to get decent fights, a lot of the time they try to pay you next to nothing when you when you are in Mexico for tough fights. That’s why I decided to stay, to give these kind of fighters an opportunity to change their lives. To fight for a world title is the highest thing a fighter can do. If you win you become a world champion, that’s all I can do for you. The rest is on you, all the hard work, the extra minute you run, the extra round you hit the bag, the extra mile, that is on you.
“He has to get ready, he has to get be motivated to achieve greatness. But I do believe when you have a kid like this, they’re hungry, they’re looking and waiting for this opportunity, they’re not going to go that far just to lose. They’re going to give us a great fight regardless of the outcome it’s going to be an incredible fight.”
Tanaka has home advantage and more championship seasoning than Rodriguez. However, I believe stylistically this is a tough one for both men. I think Tanaka has more finesse but Rodriguez will be tough and keep coming. I expect both to engage and that suits the challenger, who I could see pulling off the upset by scoring a late stoppage win.
Tanaka (20-1, 11 KOs), rated at No. 4 by The Ring at junior bantamweight, won the WBO strawweight title from Julian Yedras (UD 12) in his fifth fight and made one defense. He then moved up to junior flyweight and won the vacant WBO title and made two defenses. The Japanese star outgrew that division and edged Sho Kimura (MD 12) to win the WBO flyweight title. He made three defenses of that one, notably outboxing former unified junior flyweight titleholder Ryoichi Taguchi (UD 12) and stopping current WBO 108-pound titlist Jonathan Gonzalez (TKO 7).
The now 29-year-old jumped to 115 pounds but was brutally stopped by then-WBO titleholder Kazuto Ioka (TKO 8). He regained his confidence with four wins before becoming a four-weight world champion by besting Christian Bacasegua (UD 12) for the vacant WBO 115-pound title in February.
Questions and/or comments can be sent to Anson at elraincoat@live.co.uk.
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