ShareLOS ANGELES: American Jesse Rodriguez stopped the Thai veteran Srisaket Sor Rungvisai in the eighth round on Saturday to successfully defend his World Boxing Council junior bantamweight title. The unbeaten 22-year-old from Texas dominated the veteran Srisaket from start to finish before a hometown crowd at San Antonio's Tech Port Arena. Rodriguez, who is the youngest current world champion, improved to 16-0 with 11 knockouts following a one-sided victory. Rodriguez landed heavier punches throughout the bout, and knocked the 35-year-old Srisaket to the canvas with a crisp left hook in the seventh round.
The end came in the eighth as Rodriguez let fly with a flurry of combinations that left Srisaket struggling to defend himself before the referee stepped in to halt the punishment. The victory confirmed Rodriguez as one of the most exciting talents in boxing. "What more can I say. I told everybody I was a special fighter and I proved that tonight," Rodriguez said afterwards. "We came out here tonight and put on a show." It was a first title defense for Rodriguez, who won the title with a unanimous decision victory over veteran Carlos Cuadras in February.
Boxing federation
Meanwhile, Boxing's corruption-tainted world governing body will once again be excluded from organizing their own events at the 2024 Olympics in Paris, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) confirmed on Friday. The International Boxing Association (IBA) had already been barred from the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo with the organization's presence in the 2028 Los Angeles Games also uncertain.
"In the interest of the athletes and the boxing community, the IBA will not be running qualifications and Olympic events," IOC sports director Kit McConnell told a press conference. Boxing will take place at Paris 2024 but McConnell said the Olympic organization remained "very concerned by the governance, the refereeing and judging process and the finances" of the amateur boxing body.
The recent re-election of IBA president, the Russian Umar Kremlev, has been called into question by the Court of Arbitration for Sport and the IOC are also concerned about "its financial dependency" on the giant Russian gas company Gazprom. Many Olympic boxing tournaments have been tainted by suspicions of corruption of judges and referees, from the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens to the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio.
The IOC will decide "in due time" on the terms of organization of boxing in Paris, "by working closely with the organizing committee and the representatives of the athletes", McConnell added. Although boxing, which made its Olympic bow in St Louis in 1904, is guaranteed to be on the Paris 2024 program, its presence at the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics is still in the balance. "We've been looking for clarity from the IBA for many years," said McConnell. "The (IOC) board felt enough was enough." - AFP
