The development of Nathan Rodriguez is off the charts.
The undefeated featherweight will face Bryan Mercado tonight at the Pechanga Resort and Casino in Temecula, California. The eight-round bout will precede the main event between welterweights Jose Zepeda and Ivan Redkach.
Both fights will be streamed live on DAZN (11pm ET/8pm PT).
Rodriguez (15-0, 10 knockouts), who lives in the Los Angeles suburb of Pico Rivera, is the son of promoter Marv Rodriguez, who has seen significant growth and development with trainer Eddy Reynoso.
Marv Rodriguez believes his son will only continue to get better, and could have a breakout year in 2025.
“Nathan is definitely a prospect you want to keep your eye on,” Marv Rodriguez told The Ring on Thursday morning. “He has shown growth as he has fought in several eight and 10-round fights. His elusive defense, smooth head movement, speed and power continue to improve, especially after having the privilege of learning from a world-class coach like Eddy Reynoso. Very soon he will turn from a promising prospect to a legitimate contender.
“(Friday, Nathan) will once again have the opportunity to showcase his skills to the world and fight for the fourth time in his young career on a major platform like DAZN. He looks forward to staying busy in 2024, finishing the year strong and looking forward to big fights in 2025.”
The 20-year-old defeated Alexander Mejia by majority decision on May 6 last year. The win over Mejia was on the biggest stage of his career so far, as the fight took place on the undercard of the Canelo Alvarez-John Ryder fight at Estadio Akron in Zapopan, Mexico, a suburb of Guadalajara.
In his last fight on June 28, Rodriguez dominated Jose Saant, forcing him to stay on his chair and not come out for round four.
Five weeks before the win over Saant, Rodriguez squared off against Andres Ampan in a clash of undefeated featherweight prospects and scored a knockout victory at the end of round three.
Aside from the United States and Mexico, Rodriguez has fought six times as a pro in Costa Rica.
Mercado (11-5-1, 6 KOs), who is originally from Quito, Ecuador and now lives and trains in Las Vegas, Nevada, was stopped by Jhon Bolano at the end of round nine of his last fight on March 13th.
The 29-year-old has lost four of his last five fights, including a knockout loss to Rene Tellez Giron on March 30 last year.
Francisco A. Salazar has written for The Ring since October 2013 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (California) Star newspaper. He can be reached at (email protected)
