BIRMINGHAM, England – Eddie Hearn recognised that Francisco Rodriguez was simply too much for his fighter Galal Yafai on Saturday.
Rodriguez and Yafai squared off for the latter’s WBC flyweight interim title, with many expecting Yafai to deal with Rodriguez after his one-sided beatdown of Sunny Edwards back in November. Rodriguez, however, brought an intensity that Yafai could not match, and he beat up Yafai for 12 rounds straight – even managing to drop him in the 12th. Rodriguez landed 575 punches across the full 12 rounds – a record in a flyweight contest.
“You can't fight that type of fight against someone like Rodriguez,” Hearn said. “I mean, I think after six rounds they've both thrown well over a thousand punches, and he was just the guy that wasn't going to be denied tonight. That's disappointing, because I feel like Galal Yafai is that guy that can fight at an elite level and Rodriguez isn't actually that elite guy. He's a world-class fighter that falls short at that level, and we expected Galal to overcome him, but Rodriguez was too much for him.”
Many felt in the arena and watching from home that Yafai should have been pulled out by his trainer, Robert McCracken. Yafai took a beating for most of the rounds, and as it got later in the contest it was clear that Yafai had no way of turning things around. Hearn was asked if he thought McCracken should have thrown in the towel to save Yafai for another day.
“It's difficult. Maybe once you get to [Round] 10 or 11 and there isn't really … it's not looking like there's a way back in the fight,” Hearn replied. “I mean, I looked over at Rob McCracken, he had his towel in the 12th round ready to go in, and obviously when he got dropped, but Galal did a good job of holding when he was hurt and kind of riding the storm. But he took a lot of punishment in the last part of the fight. Rob McCracken knows Galal Yafai better than anyone, and I trust his decision.”
Tom Ivers is an amateur boxer who has a masters degree in sports journalism. He had his first bout in 2013, joined BoxingScene in 2024 and is now a key part of the UK and social media teams.