The summer heat in Texas will spike on Friday, July 19, when WBC king Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez and WBO titlist Phumelela “The Truth” Cafu lock horns in a junior‑bantamweight unification at the 12,000‑seat Ford Center at The Star in Frisco. Matchroom and DAZN confirmed the date, with the Dallas Cowboys’ gleaming practice arena staging its first world‑title double‑header.
San Antonio’s Rodriguez (21‑0, 14 KOs) has ripped through three divisions by age 25, stacking scalps such as Sunny Edwards, Carlos Cuadras and, most memorably, a seventh‑round knockout of Juan Francisco Estrada to claim the WBC belt last June. He returned in November to flatten Pedro Guevara inside three, cementing his place in boxing’s pound‑for‑pound top ten and whetting his appetite for more hardware.
Watch Bam vs. Guevara highlights: Watch
Unbeaten south‑paw Cafu (11‑0‑3, 8 KOs) arrives as the Cinderella spoiler who silenced Tokyo by dropping and edging four‑weight champ Kosei Tanaka in October to seize the WBO crown. The 30‑year‑old from Duncan Village, Eastern Cape, relishes another upset stage: “People call Bam the bogeyman, but no one is unbeatable — beating him puts me on the pound‑for‑pound list,” he vowed after signing the contract.
The night’s co‑feature keeps Texas buzzing at 168 lb, where rising star Diego Pacheco (23‑0, 18 KOs) meets heavy‑handed veteran Trevor McCumby (28‑1, 21 KOs). Pacheco, fresh off a decisive win over Steve Nelson, looks to reinforce his No. 4 super‑middleweight ranking, while McCumby seeks redemption after last year’s loss to Caleb Plant.
Beyond the belts, July 19 could set the table for full junior‑bantamweight supremacy. The winner will hold two of the four majors and be in pole position for an autumn showdown with IBF/WBA champion Fernando “Puma” Martínez (should he emerge from his May rematch with Kazuto Ioka).
Fight card:
▪️Jesse Rodriguez vs. Phumelele Cafu, 12 rounds, for Rodriguez’s WBC and Cafu’s WBO super flyweight titles
▪️Austin Williams vs. Etinosa Oliha, 12 rounds, middleweight
▪️Diego Pacheco vs. Trevor McCumby, 12 rounds, super middleweight
▪️Arturo Popoca vs. Dominique Crowder, 10 rounds, for the vacant WBC and WBA Continental Americas bantamweight titles
Prelims:
▪️Omari Jones vs. Alfredo Blanco, 6 rounds, super welterweight
▪️Pablo Valdez vs. Robert Redmond Jr., 6 rounds, super welterweight
▪️Nishant Dev vs. LaQuan Evans, 6 rounds, super welterweight
▪️Hector Beltran vs. Edgar Gutierrez, 4 rounds, super welterweight
Watch the press conference here: Watch
