Boxing Pound-for-Pound Rankings: Jesse ‘Bam’ Rodriguez Enters Top 5 for July

The 24-year-old with a powerful left hand has continued his meteoric rise.

Rodriguez is one of the sport’s rising stars. / Patrick Breen/The Republic / USA TODAY

In the aftermath of yet another dominant win Saturday—against Juan Francisco Estrada, a victory that was preceded by a knockout of Sunny Edwards, which came a year after a one-sided thumping of Srisaket Sor Rungvisai, which was just before a wide decision win over Carlos Cuadras—Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez looked like he was ready for another.

“I want to fight the best,” said Rodriguez. “And I’m only getting better.”

Rodriguez’s rise has been remarkable. In 2022 he jumped up two weight classes—on short notice no less—and dominated Cuadras to win a 115-pound title. Four months later, he knocked out the heavy handed Sor Rungvisai. Last December, he dropped down to 112 pounds and battered Edwards. He has Vasyl Lomachenko-like footwork, a punishing jab and crushing power with his left hand.

Estrada, arguably the best small fighter of this generation, was expected to provide a stiff test. He had wins over Cuadras and Sor Rungvisai, and Estrada would tell you he beat better versions of them than Rodriguez did. He also has two decision wins over Roman Gonzalez, the last a narrow points victory in December 2022.

Saturday’s fight was supposed to be competitive. It was not. Estrada was wobbled in the third round, dropped in the fourth and finished with a savage body shot in the seventh. “I’ve not felt a punch like that since my amateur days,” Estrada said. He didn’t quit, dropping Rodriguez with a well-timed right hand in the sixth round. But in the end, one of the most gifted fighters of this generation was outclassed.

The win earned Rodriguez a piece of the 115-pound title and affirmed his place among boxing’s rising stars. Does it earn him a top spot in July’s pound-for-pound list?

On to Sports Illustrated’s latest rankings.

1. Oleksandr Usyk

Record: 22-0
Last Rankings: 3
Last Fight: SD win vs. Tyson Fury
Next Fight: 12/21 vs. Fury

Usyk is one of the most accomplished fighters ever. An Olympic gold medalist and former undisputed cruiserweight champion Usyk, 37, added undisputed heavyweight champion to his resume with a win over Fury in May. Usyk dropped Fury in the ninth round of that fight, adding heavyweight power to some of boxing’s best technique. Usyk will face Fury in a rematch in December in Saudi Arabia with a chance to go 4-0 against the U.K.’s top heavyweights—Fury and Anthony Joshua—and earn a pile of money in the process.

2. Terence Crawford

Record: 40–0
Last Ranking: 1
Last Fight: TKO win vs. Errol Spence Jr.
Next Fight: 8/3 vs. Israil Madrimov

Crawford’s anticipated showdown with Spence Jr. last July proved anticlimactic, with the three-division champion battering Spence over eight-plus rounds, dropping the unified titleholder three times before the referee waved it off. Crawford has knocked out every opponent he has faced since moving up to 147 pounds—eight in total—and at 36 years old established himself as the unquestioned welterweight king.

In August, Crawford, now 37, will take his talents to a new weight class when he faces Madrimov, a decorated amateur coming off a brilliant 154-pound title winning effort against Magomed Kurbanov. A Crawford win could make his time out of the top spot a short one.

3. Naoya Inoue

Record: 27–0
Last Ranking: 2
Last Fight: TKO win vs. Luis Nery
Next Fight: TBD

It feels disrespectful to place an undefeated, two division undisputed champion third but such is the state at the top of the sport. In May, Inoue overcame a first round knockdown to stop Nery, the eighth straight opponent he has knocked out. While there has been talk of Inoue, 31, moving up to 126 pounds, the plan is to remain at 122 for at least a few more fights. Up next could be a matchup with former super bantamweight titleholder TJ Doheny, who has won three fights in a row.

4. Jesse Rodriguez

Record: 20–0
Last Ranking: 10
Last Fight: KO win vs. Juan Francisco Estrada
Next Fight: TBD

The meteoric rise of Rodriguez, 24, continued with a brutal beating of Estrada, who said he intended to exercise his rematch clause after the fight. If he does, a Rodriguez-Estrada rematch could take place in December. If he doesn’t, Rodriguez, who says he has “two or three fights” at 115 pounds, is targeting the winner of the super flyweight unification fight between Kazuto Ioka and Fernando Martinez, scheduled for this weekend in Japan. And after that? The buzz is growing for a showdown between Rodriguez and Inoue, a matchup Rodriguez calls a “fantasy fight” but one that is inching closer to reality.

5. Saul “Canelo” Alvarez

Record: 61-2-2
Last Ranking: 4
Last Fight: UD win vs. Jaime Munguia
Next Fight: TBD

If we learned anything from Alvarez’s win over Munguia in May it’s that Canelo is running out of opponents at 168 pounds. Alvarez dominated Munguia, dropping him in the fourth round and wobbling him in the 12th. With David Benavidez moving to 175 pounds—and Canelo showing no interest in facing him—the pickings at super middleweight are slim. Edgar Berlanga is considered the frontrunner to face Alvarez in September.

6. Dmitry Bivol

Record: 23–0
Last Ranking: 6
Last Fight: TKO win vs. Malik Zinad
Next Fight: 10/21 vs. Artur Beterbiev

After a scheduled unification fight against Beterbiev was scuttled, Bivol dominated the unheralded Zinad, picking up his first knockout win in six years. Immediately afterward, Turki Alalshikh, the Saudi Arabian government official who has turned the Middle Eastern country into a boxing hotbed, announced that Bivol and Beterbiev would meet for the undisputed light heavyweight title in October.

7. Shakur Stevenson

Record: 21–0
Last Ranking: 7
Last Fight: UD win vs. Edwin De Los Santos
Next Fight: 7/6 vs. Artem Harutyunyan

Stevenson, 27, earned a third division title with a win over De Los Santos last November. The fight itself was a stinker—Stevenson reportedly entered the ring with a hand injury—but Stevenson’s elite defense carried him through. After failing to close a unification fight, Stevenson will stay busy against Harutyunyan, who gave Frank Martin a tough fight last year. The fight will be the last on Stevenson’s contract with Top Rank, freeing him to pursue fights with other promoters later this year.

8. Artur Beterbiev

Record: 20–0
Last Ranking: 8
Last fight: TKO win vs. Callum Smith
Next fight: 10/21 vs. Dmitry Bivol

Fine wine and Beterbiev, two things that seem to get better with age. In January, just days before his 39th birthday, Beterbiev picked up one of the most impressive wins of his career, a crushing seventh-round knockout win over Smith. Beterbiev’s defense was sharp, his footwork excellent and a short right hand that dropped Smith in the seventh round. An injury forced Beterbiev out of a scheduled unification fight with Bivol, but Beterbiev will get another chance in October, when the two biggest names at light heavyweight meet in Saudi Arabia.

9. Gervonta Davis

Record: 29–0
Last Ranking: 9
Last Fight: KO win vs. Frank Martin
Next Fight: TBD

No lead is safe against Davis, who last month made Martin his latest knockout victim. Davis is a predator in the ring, willing to give up a few rounds on the scorecards while he is closing distance and finishing as well as any fighter in the smaller weight classes. Still, calls are intensifying for Davis to face a top level opponent. Top Rank promoter Bob Arum says there have been preliminary talks for a Davis-Lomachenko fight, while Stevenson has publicly called for a unification fight against Davis at 135 pounds. There’s also Isaac Cruz, who Davis defeated in 2021. Cruz will defend his 140-pound title on Aug. 3 and is eager to face Davis in a rematch.

10. Devin Haney

Record: 31–0
Last Ranking: 5
Last Fight: NC vs. Ryan Garcia
Next Fight: TBD

I get it—Haney is polarizing. But with his loss to Garcia officially changed to a no-contest last month, Haney deserves to remain in the pound-for-pound rankings. His resume is impressive: Wins over Jorge Linares, George Kambosos Jr. and Lomachenko at 135 pounds, a lopsided decision victory over Regis Prograis in his first fight at 140 pounds. Haney absorbed a beating against Garcia, but the combination of Garcia blowing weight and testing positive for a banned substance mitigates it. Haney is likely to sit out the rest of 2024 before pursuing a rematch with Garcia in ’25.