FRANCISCO Rodriguez’s title-winning effort in Birmingham last night has earned a spot in the boxing record books, as revealed by post-fight CompuBox stats. The Mexican dragged Galal Yafai kicking and screaming into a war and never let up for 12 rounds, smashing statistics in the process.
The former unified minimumweight king threw a staggering 1,087 punches, landing 575. Yafai also played his past in the main event, mostly trying to stave off Rodriguez and retain his WBC Interim crown.
The landed punches broke a 12-year record set in 2013 by Giovani ‘Azteca’ Segura, who landed 474 in his late stoppage of Hernan Marquez. The third-highest also came in 2013, as Juan Francisco Estrada scored 416 times against ‘Hawaiian Punch’ Brian Viloria.
At number four in the list, the 1992 classic between Michael Carbajal and Jorge Roman saw Carbajal land 374 punches. Nicaraguan legend Roman ‘Chocolatito’ Gonzalez landed the same amount in his 2022 win over Julio Cesar Martinez.
Speaking of Gonzalez, he knocked out a greener version of Rodriguez (14-1 at the time) in 2013 at home in Managua. Now sporting a 40-6-1 record, this upgraded version of Rodriguez has since gone the distance with both Junto Nakatani and Kazuto Ioka.
DAZN commentator Adam Smith called for a rematch as last night’s fight wore on. That seems unrealistic at present, given the amount of punishment that was dished out on both sides.
It was competitive to a point, yet became worryingly one-sided during the final rounds. CompuBox reported that Rodriguez outlanded Yafai by 23 or more punches in 9 of 12 rounds, including a +43 in round 8.
