By Sean Crose
“This fight is going to be exciting,” WBO flyweight titlist Jesse Rodriguez says on the eve his bout this Saturday against undefeated IBF flyweight champion Sunny Edwards. “The sky is the limit for me; anybody, anywhere. He’s (Edwards is) a very good fighter, very technical, very skillful, fast, smart. I knew one day down the line we would meet up and here it is. He hasn’t been in with someone with the skills I have, and with the power on top of that. I don’t care what it takes, I’m going to win, I’m taking his belt, and I’m taking his ‘0’. I’m going to knock him out.”
Edwards, of course, has other ideas, but the 18-0 Rodriguez appears to be brimming with confidence. “I want to be remembered as a legend,” says the 23 year old, “as a fighter that never dodged a fight. I’m here for a good time, not a long time. I feel like I have what it takes to not only drop him but to finish the fight early.” Sure enough, Rodriguez went out of his way to make his training camp all it could be. “I decided to get an AirBnB for this fight and separate myself from the camp house,” he says. “There’s a lot on the line, so I wanted to be as comfortable as possible, so little things like that play a big part in training camp.”
For Rodriguez, ring success can extend well beyond the ring. “I do this to myself because I want to have a better life,” he says. “I have a daughter on the way, I want to provide everything she ever needs. I’m a lot more motivated, every day I think about my daughter. I want to provide everything for her, so I am going extra hard, harder than I ever have before. What does it take to be the best? It’s hard work, dedication, sacrifice, heart and a lot of will.”
A product of Glendale, Arizona, Rodriguez is happy that Saturday’s bout against England’s Edwards will be going down in San Antonio, Texas. “In San Antonio, they treat me like a king,” he says. “I go into restaurants and get free food and free coffees in the coffee shops.” Rodriguez is also happy with being a world champion. “I was living at home before (winning) the world title fight,” he states, “but after winning the title I got my own apartment and started living on my own. Life has been amazing since then.”
Although he’s savored the fruits of success, Rodriguez knows it can all be taken away from him if he loses to Edward this weekend. He also knows that, should he win, he’ll have another world title in his posession. “I have the biggest fight of my life coming up,” he says, “and I use that feeling (of winning a world title) as motivation because I know winning this one would be ten times what I felt back then.”
