Former junior bantamweight titleholder Carlos Cuadras is scheduled to face late replacement Jesse Rodriguez Saturday night on DAZN.
Carlos Cuadras (39-4-1, 27 KOs) vs. Jesse Rodriguez (14-0, 10 KOs)
- Date: Saturday, Feb. 5
- Time: 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT (main event later in show)
- Where: Footprint Center, Phoenix
- TV/Stream: DAZN
- Cost: DAZN is $19.99 per month or $99.99 annually
- Division: Junior bantamweight
- Rounds: 12
- At stake: Vacant WBC title
- Pound-for-pound ranking: None
- Odds: NA
- Also on the card: Jamie Mitchell vs. Carly Skelly, bantamweights (for Mitchell’s WBA title); Raymond Ford vs. Edward Vazquez, featherweights
- Prediction: Cuadras UD
- Background: Cuadras, the former 115-pound titleholder, was supposed to have faced Srisaket Sor Rungvisai in a much anticipated rematch on Saturday and titleholder Juan Francisco Estrada was slated to face rival Roman Gonzalez on March 5 in a mini-tournament. However, the party has been spoiled. Both Sor Rungvisai and Estrada pulled out of their fights because of illness. Rodriguez, a flyweight who had been scheduled to fight on Saturday’s card, agreed to step in this past weekend. And Gonzalez will face 112-pound champ Julio Cesar Martinez. Cuadras, 33, hasn’t held a major belt since 2016, when Gonzalez took it from him by decision. The Mexican is coming off an 11th-round knockout loss in a title challenge against Estrada in October 2020, his most-recent fight. Rodriguez, who had been scheduled to face Fernando Diaz, will be taking a significant step up in opposition. The southpaw from San Antonio was a good junior amateur who can box and punch. And he’s in a groove, having stopped his last six opponents. We’ll find out whether it’s too early for him to face a foe of Cuadras’ caliber and experience. Cuadras had been scheduled to fight Srisaket Sor Rungvisai, who pulled out after testing positive for COVID-19.