Boxing press conferences are used to promote a fight – but also to drum up hostility between the fighters.
Both those things are difficult to achieve without the A-side there in person.
Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez had a good reason not to be present at the New York City press conference for his November fight with Fernando “Puma” Rodriguez, just one part of a star-studded November 22 card headlined by light heavyweights David Benavidez and Anthony Yarde. Also featured on the slate is a welterweight clash of styles between Brian Norman Jnr and Devin Haney, as well as rising star Abdullah Mason and Sam Noakes for the vacant WBO lightweight title.
Rodriguez, already in possession of a Hall of Fame-worthy resume at 25 years old, has another fight first – a junior bantamweight unification against Phumelela Cafu on July 19. So as Martinez sat at the press conference, Rodriguez was grinding away in the final days of his camp.
Completely understandable. In an era of inactive stars, Rodriguez, 21-0 (14 KOs), is one of a very few to have his next two fights scheduled on BoxRec. It did make for an awkward situation for Martinez, however.
“It’s a weird feeling, absolutely,” Martinez, 18-0 (9 KOs), admitted through a translator. “But I’m very grateful for the opportunity. I’m grateful to all the promoters who put the show together, and I’m going to come prepared to do my job.
“I’ve fought two great champions and beat them,” Martinez added. “And on November 22, I’m going to show the world that I’m the best champion. The main thing I got out of those fights was experience, and I’m going to show that on November 22.”
Though Rodriguez wasn’t present, Martinez paid the pound-for-pound star respect. Asked for a prediction for the Rodriguez-Cafu fight, Martinez called it as a knockout win for Rodriguez.
Owen Lewis is a freelance writer with bylines at Defector Media, The Guardian and The Second Serve. He is also a writer and editor at BoxingScene. His beats are tennis, boxing, books, travel and anything else that satisfies his meager attention span. He is on Bluesky and can be contacted at owentennis11@gmail.com.
