Jonathan Rodriguez is 'inspired' in his bid to upset WBO 115-pound-ranked Kosei Tanaka.

Second time lucky, at least that's what Jonathan Rodriguez hopes.

Rodriguez, ranked No. 10 by The Ring at junior bantamweight, will challenge Kosei Tanaka for the WBO title in Kokugikan, Tokyo, Japan, on Saturday.

“My only thought is to be world champion,” Rodriguez (25-2-1, 17 knockouts) told The Ring via promoter Paco Damian. “I work hard, I am very determined. We know the work ahead, he is a great champion and fighter, but my goal is to become a world champion.”

The 28-year-old father of two from San Luis Potosi, Mexico, has a lot of respect for the four-division manager's ability but also sees areas he can use and expects Tanaka's style to mesh well with his own and deliver a fight that's good for the fans.

“He has a good left hand, that's the one we've been watching [of] We have been preparing and training for that,” he said. “His left hand is faster than his feet. He is not very quick with leg movement. He always stands still.

“He also receives punishment, he likes to go here and there, we do it too. We will apply a lot of pressure [on him.] What we have seen is that most of the time when he is in the middle or in exchange he is beaten. We saw that [in his only loss] against [Kazuto] Ioka in the three matches they face and our plan is to apply pressure and work hard all around and hopefully at the end we will be able to be stopped. It will be very difficult to do but we are working hard on it. We know the importance of this opportunity.”

The fight will end a busy year for Rodriguez. However, there are several reasons for that.

“One thing that caused me to injure my left knee, we had to go to treatment, we had to heal, we have to give it a good time to recover,” he explained. “Now we are healthy, we are working hard and now I am 100 percent.”

However, his coach and manager Marco Rodriguez (no relation), who has trained him since 2020 and put the “Titan” through an 8-week training camp in Monterrey, Mexico, wanted to expand on that.

“Besides the knee injury, there are other things. It's very sad that some Mexican companies didn't want to give us a chance, sometimes it's like, 'You take it and you have me or we don't give you anything.' So, most of the time with the little power they have, there are very few promoters in Mexico who have a TV deal, so most of the time they like to take advantage of the fighters, they know, us or nobody. ,” he explained. “We are very grateful to have met Paco, we know that he always finds opportunities for fighters and that is what he has done, we are very happy to sign with him.”

Meanwhile, Rodriguez doesn't see that time off will stop him.

“No, I'm inspired, I don't see it as something against me,” he said. “I feel smart in the ring, I'll enter [on] a lot of pressure and this will not be a distraction or something that I think is against me. I will prepare very well, I will be very motivated and I will go there to win.”

This will give Rodriguez his second chance at a world title as he faces Jerwin Ancajas (UD 12) in 2021.

“It was a tough fight with a fighter who had a lot of experience, defending several titles,” he explained. “And on my part, I felt clueless. Why? Because I had never fought in the United States on a big stage like that. I must admit, I was a little nervous, the first time I left my country to fight in another place to get such a big opportunity.

“I consider that as something that will not happen this time against Tanaka. I feel I have the qualities now to do very well against him in Japan.”

Damian, a student of the late, hall of fame promoter Don Chargin, hopes to get Rodriguez the title so that his boxer can continue to be champion.

“This is an amazing fight, I live for these moments,” said Damian, who flew with the team to Japan on July 11. “Having an underdog, going to the promoter's house and having a guy like Jonathan Rodriguez, a fighter. , I know who will leave everything inside the ring. To be able to give this kind of give these guys a chance.

“[When] My good friend, Don Chargin, died, I thought I would retire but later I thought again though, “All the time he put into me, everything he taught me, it would be a waste.” I decided to stay and I wanted to do exactly what happened to Jonathan. It was hard for him to get decent fights, most of the time they tried to pay you less if you were in Mexico for tough fights. That's why I decided to stay, to give this type of fighters a chance to change their lives. Fighting for a world title is the highest thing a fighter can do. If you win you become world champion, that's what I can do for you. The rest is up to you, all the hard work, the extra minute you run, the extra lap you bag, the extra mile, is on you.

“He should prepare himself, he should be motivated to achieve a lot. But I believe that if you have a child like this, he is hungry, looking and waiting for this opportunity, he will not go far just to lose. They will fight hard for us regardless of the result it will be an amazing fight.”

Tanaka has the home run advantage and the championship advantage over Rodriguez. However, I believe that stylistically this is difficult for both men. I think Tanaka has a lot of upside but Rodriguez will be tough and keep coming. I expect the two to engage and that suits the challenger, who I saw pull off an upset by scoring a late stoppage win.

Tanaka (20-1, 11 KOs), ranked No. 4 by The Ring at junior bantamweight, won the WBO strawweight title from Julian Yedras (UD 12) in his fifth fight and made one defense. He then moved up to junior flyweight and won the vacant WBO title and defended it twice. The Japanese star went through that stage and defeated Sho Kimura (MD 12) to win the WBO flyweight title. He made three defenses in that one, notably knocking out United junior flyweight champion Ryoichi Taguchi (UD 12) and stopping current WBO 108-pound champion Jonathan Gonzalez (TKO 7).

The 29-year-old jumped up to 115 pounds but was brutally stopped by Kazuto Ioka who held the WBO title at the time (TKO 8). He also boasted four wins before becoming a light-weight world champion defeating Christian Bacasegua (UD 12) for the vacant WBO 115-pound title in February.

Questions and/or comments can be sent to Anson at [email protected].

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