MORENO VALLEY, California – It’s fitting that eight-division champion Manny Pacquiao is fighting one month from Thursday night – July 19 – the same evening as unbeaten two-division champion Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez.

Pacquiao, at 46, has given the sport his everything. Following his Hall of Fame induction earlier this month, he will seek a final welterweight belt, meeting Rodriguez’s close friend from San Antonio, WBC titleholder Mario Barrios Jnr, in the main event of Premier Boxing Champions’ Prime Video pay-per-view card in Las Vegas.

Now 21-0 (14 KOs), WBC junior bantamweight belt holder Rodriguez intends to post a unification victory in Dallas over South Africa’s new WBO titlist Phumelela Cafu, 11-0-3 (8 KOs).

Rodriguez originally envisioned an attempt to stand as undisputed 115lbs champion, and that’s still possible if WBA titleholder Fernando “Puma” Martinez can stage a unification against new IBF belt holder Willibaldo Garcia this year.

If those winners can’t meet within a timely manner, Rodriguez has grander plans to pursue.

Call it the Pacquiao road map.

Not only does Rodriguez seek to win a bantamweight belt and hunt down an epic meeting against undisputed and unbeaten junior featherweight champion Naoya Inoue of Japan next year, he also believes it’s possible to stand as a six-division champion by the time his career ends.

“As a world champion, yes,” Rodriguez told BoxingScene in an interview at his trainer’s eponymous Robert Garcia Boxing Academy. “I feel I have what it takes to compete in those weight divisions. I feel my skills will keep improving, and I’m only 25.”

A dynamic puncher with rapid hand movement who last year ended the reign of accomplished Mexican champion Juan Francisco Estrada by seventh-round knockout, Rodriguez said he foresees the move toward 122lbs champion Inoue perhaps by the end of 2026 as “a smooth transition” given his room to grow.

Upon winning the junior bantamweight belt, Rodriguez spoke of distinguishing himself by standing as the division’s undisputed champion, and he noted this week that Pacquiao never achieved that feat.

Although Willibaldo Garcia advisor Sean Gibbons told BoxingScene on Wednesday that his fighter plans to attend the Rodriguez-Cafu fight and call out the winner, trainer Robert Garcia said time may disrupt the undisputed plan at 115 as they eye a move to bantamweight next year for Bam.

“We were hoping to get undisputed at 115, but there’s an IBF champion from Mexico now [Garcia] that nobody even knows and we don’t have time for that,” Robert Garcia said. “Obviously, we have to get past Cafu because he’s a good fighter, and our next move would be to fight ‘Puma’ Martinez as Bam’s last fight at 115. After that, he’s going to 118. For sure.”

After surviving a knockdown to knock out Ramon Cardenas on May 4 in Las Vegas, four-division champion Inoue said he would prefer to remain at 122lbs for as long as his body allows it rather than move up to featherweight.

Trainer Garcia predicts Rodriguez can reach that target weight without compromising a more ideal weight class, as the now-retired Vasiliy Lomachenko did in fleeing his best division at junior lightweight to pursue big-money fights at lightweight.

“The difference is the age. Lomachenko’s talent and skill could have got him to 140, but he didn’t turn pro until about 26, and the age, the injuries and workouts take a toll, and by 35, you’re up there,” Garcia said. “Bam won his first [flyweight] title one week after his 21st birthday. He’s very young. Big difference. Inoue is 32. His body is already tired. Workouts, sparring are tough.

“For Bam, it’s only seven pounds, and they’re both around 5-foot-5 [tall].”

Garcia says matching the pair would do wonders for boxing.

“I have no doubt he will be fighting Inoue. I would love to do Inoue. That would be great, awesome,” Garcia said. “Boxing needs that fight. We’re getting other fights – Jake Paul versus [Julio Cesar] Chavez Jnr next week – that do great numbers, but we need real, competitive fights, and there’s not a better one than Bam-Inoue.”

To get there, Rodriguez needs to master his patient, step-by-step plan of victories, starting with Cafu.

Given the plaudits he constantly receives while rising up the sport’s pound-for-pound rankings, Rodriguez said he maintains a humble attitude and strives to be his own toughest critic, tending to his defense this camp, for instance, because of the knockdown he needed to recover from versus Estrada.

“In the back of my mind, I know all the great things that have come to me can be taken away in a matter of seconds,” Rodriguez said. “I stay true to myself and who I am. It’s happened plenty of times to other fighters, and I don’t want to follow in those footsteps.

“[Cafu is a] very tough fighter coming off that upset of [Kosei] Tanaka in Japan. Has eight knockouts. He’s coming hungry. I’ll be more than ready. I want everything to go as planned. You’ve got to be your hardest critic. That’s how you improve.”

Rodriguez has a good idea how July 19 will go among the populations of casual boxing fans driven by the curiosity of Pacquiao’s comeback and the hardcore fans who will likely make it a twin big-screen night to watch Rodriguez.

“If I lose fans [that night], it’s OK, because Mario Barrios is my friend. I grew up with him, known him since 10,” Rodriguez said. “If the fans are watching him instead of me, I’m happy for him. It’ll be a great night for San Antonio boxing. He has the height and reach advantage, and the age may play a factor. Props to Pacquiao for even taking this fight. He’s one of my favorites, an all-time great. For my friend to have a name like that on his resume is badass.”

To attract his own audience that night “is badass, because fighters in my weight class usually don’t get recognition like this. The fact I’m where I’m at today speaks a lot about my skills and talent. People appreciate it. Every fight, I’ll only get better from here on out. My past performances are nothing compared to July 19.”

By executing that mission, Rodriguez will certainly build global interest toward the showdown with Inoue.

“I see the comments and I eventually see myself fighting Inoue. I don’t know how long it’s going to take for that to happen, but down the line, I know that’s a huge fight that’s bound to happen and people will appreciate [it],” he said. “I know it will go down as one of the best fights in all of boxing.”

Lance Pugmire is BoxingScene’s senior U.S. writer and an assistant producer for ProBox TV. Pugmire has covered boxing since the early 2000s, first at the Los Angeles Times and then at The Athletic and USA Today. He won the Boxing Writers’ Association of America’s Nat Fleischer Award in 2022 for career excellence.