Duncan Village star Phumelela Cafu’s roller-coaster ride will continue when he becomes the first Eastern Cape boxer to engage in a triple world title unification match by facing Jesse Rodriguez in the US on July 19.
Cafu will risk his WBO junior bantamweight title against the American’s WBC and Ring titles at the Ford Centre in Frisco, Texas, in a clash to be streamed worldwide by DAZN.
The bout, which has been on the horizon for a while due to the two boxers sharing similar promotional homes, was officially confirmed by Cafu’s manager, Colin Nathan, who described it as a “super fight”.
Popularly known as “Bam”, Rodriguez comes with a big reputation, having already made boxing’s pound-for-pound list despite being just 25 years old.
The American won the WBC junior bantamweight title with a dominant display against Carlos Cuadras before dropping down to the flyweight division to capture the WBO version, which brought him to a unification clash against then IBF champion Sunny Edwards.
Rodriguez ruthlessly destroyed Edwards in a one-sided nine-round affair to become the unified champion before going back to the junior bantamweight division to surprisingly stop Mexican legend Juan Francisco Estrada and take back the WBC belt.
Nathan, who cemented his reputation as the best boxing dealmaker in Africa, said he was elated at securing another high-stakes bout for an SA boxer after marathon negotiations with Rodriguez’s promoter, Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Boxing.
Japanese promoter Akihiko Honda, who promotes Cafu, also co-promotes Rodriguez, which helped conclude the deal.
“There was a lot of back-and-forth between myself and Eddie to get this fight over the line,” Nathan said.
“This is by far the biggest fight any South African boxer has been involved in.
“Phumelela will now get an opportunity to unify against a top-10 fighter in the world.”
Nathan also thanked Honda for facilitating the deal.
The fight will mark yet another phase in the astonishing career of Cafu, who burst onto the world scene in the space of six months.
The 26-year-old was stuck in obscurity before dramatically introducing himself by holding experienced Jackson Chauke to a draw for the SA flyweight title in East London in March 2022.
But his crowning moment came when he upset Kosei Tanaka to win the WBO title in Japan in October, kick-starting his quest for world boxing dominance.
Cafu, whose soaring ambition prompted him to dump his long-time promoter Xaba Promotions to join Nathan’s No Doubt Management, said he was pleasantly surprised when Nathan informed him of the Rodriguez fight.
“I was surprised when Paps [Nathan] informed me the fight was made because not so long ago, he squashed the rumours about it on social media,” he said.
“I have always wanted to fight Bam because people think he is the bogeyman of the division, and I want to prove that everyone is beatable.”
The fight will pit unbeaten stars against each other, with Cafu’s 14 fights against three draws inferior to Rodriguez’s 21 wins, embellished with world title accomplishments.
Daily Dispatch
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