LAS VEGAS – Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez’s third fight of 2022 was his most difficult.

Israel Gonzalez was a huge underdog Saturday night, but the determined Mexican gave Rodriguez more trouble than either of the two former WBC super flyweight champions provided in his previous pair of fights. Rodriguez unanimously out-pointed the game Gonzalez, but Gonzalez proved to be tough and durable throughout their 12-round fight for Rodriguez’s WBC 115-pound championship.

The undefeated Rodriguez won on the cards of judges Tim Cheatham (118-109), Max De Luca (117-110) and Patricia Morse Jarman (114-113), who gave Gonzalez five rounds. Caesars Sportsbook listed Rodriguez as a 30-1 favorite before they entered the ring.

While Rodriguez remained undefeated (17-0, 11 KOs), he didn’t exactly build on the momentum against Gonzalez (28-5-1, 11 KOs) that he established with back-to-back impressive victories over ex-WBC champs Carlos Cuadras and Srisaket Sor Rungvisai.

The 22-year-old southpaw defeated Mexico’s Cuadras convincingly in their 12-rounder February 5 in Glendale, Arizona. He then dominated Thailand’s Sor Rungvisai on his way to an eighth-round knockout June 25 at Tech Port Arena in Rodriguez’s hometown of San Antonio.

It became obvious by the beginning of the 12th round that neither fighter would knock out his opponent. Neither fighter appeared to go for the knockout during those final three minutes, thus they went to the scorecards.

Rodriguez controlled the action during a 10th round and 11th rounds, when Gonzalez foot off his back foot and ate more punches than during prior rounds. Rodriguez hit Gonzalez low again during the final minute of the 11th round, but referee Kenny Bayless didn’t count that infraction as a foul and demanded that Gonzalez get to his feet to continue fighting.

Rodriguez’s right uppercut caught Gonzalez with about 50 seconds remaining in the ninth round. Rodriguez previously landed several left hands that made Gonzalez back into the ropes in the ninth round.

An accidental clash of heads caused a brief break in the action with 2:14 to go in the eighth round, so that a ringside physician could look at the damage done above Gonzalez’s left eye. Bayless also warned Rodriguez for a low blow and gave Gonzalez time to recover with 46 seconds on the clock in the eighth round.

Gonzalez went down from another low blow with 14 seconds to go in the eighth round, which prompted Bayless to deduct a point from Rodriguez.

Rodriguez landed a right hook in an exchange a few seconds before the midway mark of the seventh round. A straight left by Rodriguez knocked Gonzalez into the ropes just before the seventh round ended.

Gonzalez landed a right hand as Rodriguez pressed forward 35 seconds into the fifth round. They traded shots on the inside later in the fifth, including a right-left combination by Rodriguez that backed up Gonzalez.

Gonzalez connected with an uppercut during the fourth round, which stopped Rodriguez in his tracks.  

Rodriguez’s straight left landed about 20 seconds into the second round. Rodriguez’s right uppercut connected a little less than a minute into the second round as well.

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.