Exclusive: Galal Yafai Ready For War vs Francisco Rodriguez Jr

Yafai (9-0, 7 KOs), an Olympic Gold Medalist for Great Britain in the 2020 Olympic games in Tokyo, punished Edwards with his relentless volume and pressure before stopping the former flyweight champion on Nov. 30. Yafai landed 162 of 453 punches, including 136 of 380 power shots, more than tripling Edwards' punches landed, per CompuBox.

Yafai and Edwards had spent years sparring and climbing the ranks together. With that experience and the success Edwards had during his career, Yafai was pleasantly surprised at how the fight played out.

"I don't know if I expected the fight to be like that," Yafai said. "I hoped it was going to be that way. It's like tunnel vision. I just think I wanted the respect. I wanted people to say, 'Okay, he's here now.' A lot of people didn't think I was going to win. They thought Sunny was too good. I was glad to shut a few people up."

While he's hopeful he can replicate that kind of performance, he knows the challenge that Rodriguez Jr. (39-6-1, 27 KOs) presents. Of his six losses, his last two came against multi-division champions Kazuto Ioka in 2021 and Junto Nakatani in 2022 at super flyweight. The only stoppage loss of his career came in 2013 against Roman "Chocolatito" Gonzalez.

In Rodriguez Jr., Yafai believes he's up against the toughest opponent of his brief career in the pro ranks.

"He's probably the best opponent I'm going to fight," Yafai said. "I hope I'm wrong. I hope it's an easy fight, but I can't see it being an easy fight. He's a great fighter. He's a former champion. He's already fought fighters like Nakatani and Ioka a couple of years ago up at super flyweight, but he's got to come down to my weight and he's got to try to come and beat me. I've got to be at my best. I'm sure I will be."

If Yafai can get past Rodriguez Jr., that could line him up to be elevated to the full WBC flyweight titlist, though, that'll depend on what current unified champion Kenshiro Teraji decides to do. If Teraji were to move up in weight, Yafai would be well-positioned to become the WBC champion.

But if Teraji decides to stay at 112, Yafai would be more than willing to go to the same country where he won his gold medal to face the reigning WBA and WBC flyweight champion.

"He's a champion," Yafai said. "He's got the WBA belt as well. I got a good relationship with Tokyo. Hopefully, I can go back there and win the WBC world title."

If everything were to play out in Yafai's favor, that could set the stage for him to move up in weight and potentially land his dream fight vs WBC junior bantamweight champion and pound-for-pound great Jesse "Bam" Rodriguez. First, though, before Yafai can even be in a position to land that fight or even potentially face Teraji, he knows he must handle business on June 21 vs Rodriguez Jr.

"He doesn't come to mess around," Yafai said. "He's a come-forward fighter. He's Mexican [and] all the Mexicans come to fight. I'm expecting a really good fight and a fan-friendly fight. I hope it's an easy fight, but I can't see it being an easy fight, especially with his style and my style. I think the fans are looking forward to and the real boxing fans know it's a really good fight.

"Don't blink."