Bam Rodriguez vs Edwards unification “signed and sealed”

Jesse Rodriguez holds the WBO flyweight title, Sunny Edwards the IBF

Matchroom Boxing is set to deliver one of 2023’s most desired fights, announcing today that WBO flyweight champion Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez and IBF champion Sunny Edwards have signed to square off in a unification match later this year.

The date and venue will “be announced soon.”

Rodriguez (18-0, 11 KO) was, if not definitively 2022’s Fighter of the Year, was unquestionably its breakout fighter. He dispatched Carlos Cuadras and Srisaket Sor Rungviai back-to-back, the former on short notice the latter via absolute mauling, then capped off his three-fight campaign with a hard-fought decision over veteran Israel Gonzalez.

Rather than stay at 115, he dropped back down to Flyweight in April, battling through a broken jaw to claim Junto Nakatani’s former title with a wide decision over fellow young gun Cristian Gonzalez. Odds are that the ambiguity over this matchup’s date is due to them monitoring his recovery.

Edwards (20-0, 4 KO), for his part, has defended his title four times since taking it from Moruti Mthalane two years back. There were repeated efforts to pit him against WBC champ Julio Cesar Martinez, but with “Rey” falling apart at the seams and seemingly disinterested in pursuing unification, this is the fight to make at 112.

Will it be any good to watch? Unclear and highly dependent on who’s in control, but I’m still very excited for it.