Rungvisai entered the fight with three wins in Thailand since losing a decision to Juan Francisco Estrada in 2019 but owned a win over Estrada and two wins over Roman Gonzalez, so the question with Rungvisai was this- How close to his peak form was Rungvisai to that fighter and could he handle a highly skilled and talented young fighter?
The answer is still unclear on what Rungvisai has remaining in his career because Rodriguez was so good that he looked clearly out of Rungvisai's league as Rodriguez won arguably every round ( I gave Rungvisai the second round and that was a close round) with sharp counters and the type of speed that the veteran had no chance against.
Give Rungvisai credit- he kept coming forward but it was clear by the middle rounds that he was overmatched and when Rodriguez landed a left hand in the seventh that caused Rungvisai to stumble and with some assistance from shoes that troubled him all fight long, touched his gloves to the floor for a knockdown.
Rodriguez finished the fight in the eighth, landing several punches that drove Rungvisai into the ropes and pounded him until the referee had little choice but to step in to end the fight.
Rodriguez says he can return to fight at flyweight or he could fight either WBA champion Juan Francisco Estrada (who gave up the title that Rodriguez holds) or Roman Gonzalez in what would be highly anticipated fights.
No matter the path that Rodriguez and promoter Eddie Hearn choose, there is a star in the making in Bam Rodriguez and I think boxing fans could be watching this young man for a long time to come.
In the co-feature, Murodjon Akhmadaliev survived an injured hand to stop Ronny Rios in the final round to retain his WBA and IBF junior featherweight titles.
Akhmadaliev dominated the first six rounds before injuring his left hand and choosing to box almost one handed for the latter half of the fight before stepping up the pace with a two fisted attack that would knock Rios to the floor.
Rios would rise but the fight was ended there.
Akhmadaliev badly hurt Rios in the fifth round and almost ended the fight in that round and it's not impossible that he injured his left hand during his biggest round of the fight.
I had the champion well ahead after eleven rounds (109-100) but I loved the killer instinct that allowed him to go for the impressive finish of Rios rather than be satisfied with a wide decision win.
The fight to be made is the full unification against WBC and WBO champion Stephen Fulton and both fighters seem to want the bout but as always in boxing, network and promotional issues will need to be overcome.
Both champions appear to be versatile fighters that can use different styles to win their fights and I could see their fight as anywhere from a war to a bore, but it needs to be made soon.
An upset occurred in Mexicali, Mexico on ESPN+ as former WBA light flyweight champion Hekkie Budler traveled from South Africa to win a unanimous decision over former WBO champion Elwin Soto and earned a title shot against WBC light flyweight titleholder Ken Shiro (Teraji).
Soto won the first four rounds on my card but Budler's smoother boxing took over in round five and Soto was just the duller and less active fighter for the remainder of the fight.
Budler dropped an off-balance Soto early in the final round as Soto tried to rescue the fight as he did in his title-winning fight against Angel Acosta, and it appeared that the knockdown was the exclamation point on a solid win for Budler (116-11 on my card).
Then the scoring was announced with all three judges scoring it for Budler 114-113, which meant that had Budler not scored what seemed to be a superfluous knockdown the fight would have ended in a draw that saved the hometown combatant.
That would have been a travesty of justice for Budler, who gave a terrific performance considering his travel, age (34), and his fighting just once since losing his title to Hiroto Kyoguchi and should make an interesting matchup with Ken Shiro in his title fight.
As for Soto, it was his second defeat in a row (he lost his title to Jonathan Gonzalez by split decision) and he has become a fighter that just doesn't throw enough punches and has become reliant on his power to save him. Boxing Challenge
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