Boxing
Jesse ‘Bam’ Rodriguez credits this legendary fighter for inspiring his renowned footwork
Rodriguez vs. Vargas on DAZN - Saturday
Watch Jesse ‘Bam’ Rodriguez and it’s abundantly clear that his nimble footwork is near immaculate. From the foot feints to pivots, rhythmic bounce, subtle slips and step throughs, Rodriguez’ footwork is instinctual brilliance. It’s the pristine gasoline powering his ascension into boxing’s top tier.
While Rodriguez, 26, makes his footwork look seamless in the ring today, it took him first drawing on a legend of the sport for inspiration at 16 years old and then continuously honing his craft over a decade to make these movements such an integral component of his fight game.
“To be honest, the reason I started practicing footwork was because of [Vasiliy] Lomachenko,” Rodriguez tells DAZN News during the buildup to Saturday night when he vies for Antonio Vargas’ WBA bantamweight world title in Glendale, Arizona, and live on DAZN.
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“I saw his fights and I wanted to try it for myself, so when I was in the gym, I would work on it with the bag and sparring,” he tacks on. It took me a while to get to where I’m at today, but if I never seen Lomachenko fight then I probably would have had a hidden talent that I never even knew about.”
Lomachenko became a three-division world champion by routinely dismantling opponents with his matrix-like footwork. With a win over Vargas this weekend, ‘Bam’ can become a three-division world champion himself.
The undefeated San Antonio, Texas native credits his footwork for this current, electrifying streak of five straight stoppage victories.
How Rodriguez (23-0, 16 KOs) is devising these finishes with his footwork is as eye-opening as the knockouts themselves.
- Against Sunny Edwards in December 2023, a step-through left cross swiveled the Brit’s jaw in the ninth round, putting him on his hands and knees. Lights out for ‘Showtime.’
- Rodriguez pivoted on his right foot, buying an open panel of ring real estate to unload a punishing body shot during the seventh round of his June 2024 bout against Juan Francisco Estrada. Fight over.
- A switch of stances from southpaw to orthodox allowed ‘Bam’ to uncork a crushing right uppercut that left a crime scene out of Pedro Guevara for a third-round TKO in their November 2024 fight.
- To rid himself of a pesky Phumelele Cafu last July, Rodriguez detonated wicked torque on a right hook out of a full squat for the 10th-round TKO.
- A smooth backpedal, turn into a left hook eviscerated Fernando ‘Puma’ Martinez via 10th-round TKO in November.
None of these emphatic shots would be possible without creativity in adeptly setting them up with his movement.
“Footwork is everything to me,” Rodriguez says. “Footwork is the main reason I’m getting knockouts in the first place.
“Of course, the power helps, but the way I set myself up and put myself in position to land the shots I’m landing, I feel like footwork is a big part of it.”
While too humble to push himself into the Top 3 of his own pound-for-pound list, Rodriguez readily declares his footwork the best in boxing.
Perhaps Vargas will find that out firsthand Saturday night … with Inoue on standby.
Does 'Bam' Rodriguez have the best footwork in boxing?
Analysis: DAZN News' Mark Lelinwalla
When it comes to boxers with exceptional footwork, fighters such as Oleksandr Usyk, Naoya Inoue, Jaron 'Boots' Ennis, Dmitry Bivol and Alycia Baumgardner come to mind for me, just to name a few. However, I do believe Jesse 'Bam' Rodriguez has the best footwork in boxing amongst this current crop. I think of it as instinctual currency the way he can creatively convert his agile footwork into explosive knockouts. Watching him trying to figure out Inoue with his feet would be must-see sweet science.
