Turki Alalshikh Announces Bam Rodriguez Vs. Fernando Martinez Unification Before Cafu Fight: A Risky Move?

Turki Alalalshikh has revealed that WBC super flyweight champion Jesse ‘Bam’ Rodriguez will face WBA belt-holder Fernando Martinez (19-0, 9 KOs) in a unification fight in November in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

However, Bam still needs to win his unification fight against the unbeaten WBO 115-lb champion Phumelela Cafu (11-0-3, 8 KOs) on July 19th at The Ford Center at The Star in Frisco, Texas. That fight will be shown live on DAZN. Ring Magazine reported the news from Turki Alalshikh.

Why Turki Announced Early

The big question is why didn’t Turki wait until after Bam Rodriguez’s fight with Phumelela Cafu before announcing the unification fight with the Argentinian Fernando Martinez? Announcing the fight before Bam’s match against Cafu is jumping the gun, as he may lose this fight.

It’s bad form to announce a fight before an important unification fight. It’s one thing if this were a tune-up for Bam, but this is a unification match against an excellent champion.

It’s not as if Rodriguez, 25, is unbeatable. We saw Bam struggle badly in his fights against Cristian Gonzalez Hernandez and Israel Gonzalez. Those two matches show that Bam can’t walk on water. He’s human, and he may lose to the talented South African Cafu. This guy has a lot of talent and can punch.

Bam’s Vulnerable Jaw Exposed

Bam Rodriguez isn’t hard to hit, and his big lantern jaw was already broken once by Cristian Gonzalez in the sixth round of their fight in 2023. Cafu might be able to duplicate that effort by targeting Bam’s jaw, as it’s the most noticeable feature on him. You might as well have a ‘Hit me’ sign attached to it.

The only reason I can see for Turki announcing the Martinez vs. Bam fight early is to increase interest in Rordriguez’s clash against Cafu on July 19th. This is one way to do it, but still, it looks bad. 

Fernando Martinez, 33, looked like pure gold in his last two fights, beating IBF 115-lb champion Kazuto Ioka by a pair of 12-round unanimous decisions. There really wasn’t any need for the rematch last May, because Martinez had dominated Ioka in the first fight in 2024, winning by the scores 117-111, 120-108, and 116-112.