While Tokyo is busy hosting a raft of title fights this weekend, San Antonio, Texas will also be busy with its own significant boxing matches on Saturday night. Headlining the evening of boxing at the Boeing Center at Tech Port will be Jesse Rodriguez vs. Cristian Gonzalez that sees the WBO World Flyweight belt up for grabs.
The belt currently sits vacant with Rodriguez and Gonzalez the two men picked to duke it out for full ownership. While both men head into this clash with strong records, Rodriguez is the only man not to taste defeat yet and will be looking to keep it that way in San Antonio. Can Gonzalez spring an upset here or will the Rodriguez train keep rolling on?
We look at all the best bets to place on this match with the latest odds from bookmaker William Hill.
※ Current Odds Date & Time: April 7th, 10:30 P.M. (GMT)
Bookmaker William Hill has this fight about as uneven as it gets. Home favourite Jesse Rodriguez is a heavy 1.03 favourite to win on Saturday compared to Cristian Gonzalez’s odds of 11.00. These skewed odds are shown in the method of victory odds as well where Rodriguez is expected to knock out Gonzalez at 1.57. A Rodriguez decision is also paying quite low odds at 2.50, while either way of Gonzalez winning is seen as a longshot—17.00 for a knockout and 21.00 for a decision. This fight going the distance pays 2.25 and 1.57 for a stoppage.
※ Current Odds Date & Time: April 7th, 10:30 P.M. (GMT)
The reason for these heavily skewed odds is because up until recently Jesse Rodriguez was the reigning WBC Super Flyweight Champion. The American has now vacated that belt however and moved down to his more natural weight class to fight for the title here. Given that Rodriguez was good enough to beat the best at super flyweight, it’s hard to see him struggling at flyweight, particularly against an unproven opponent such as Gonzalez.
Cristian Gonzalez has a strong record having won his last nine fights in a row after dropping a split decision in 2019. He stands at 15-1-0 overall and has won his past two clashes by way of knockout. However, Gonzalez is yet to fight anyone of real caliber with all of his bouts so far taking place against fellow Mexican fighters on the domestic circuit. This will be his first international clash and first title fight.
We should see this match end in a Rodriguez knockout. The 17-0-0 American has a 65% knockout rate and is fighting at the weight he feels most comfortable. He will have taken a big boost to his confidence from the success he gained at the super flyweight level and should have no issues navigating and ultimately knocking out Gonzalez.
