Galal Yafai vs Francisco Rodriguez Jr. betting tips: Yafai faces his toughest test with world title in sight

Galal Yafai (9-0, 7 KOs) faces another former world champion in Francisco Rodriguez Jr. (39-6-1, 27 KOs) in his home city of Birmingham, this Saturday night, live on DAZN.

Yafai swept aside ex-world champion Sunny Edwards in his last fight, but Rodriguez is different because he comes with far more experience and dynamite in his hands.

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The WBC world flyweight title is within touching distance for Yafai, so he has a lot to lose in this fight, but everything to gain.

Tale of the tape: Galal Yafai vs Francisco Rodriguez Jr.

Galal Yafai: Can Yafai continue his meteoric rise to the world title?

Undefeated Galal Yafai defends his WBC Interim flyweight title with the intention of upgrading it to the full world title later this year.

A win over Francisco Rodriguez Jr. will catapult him into a world title shot at the WBC flyweight champion Kenshiro Teraji, providing he comes through his next defence against Ricardo Rafael Sandoval in July.

The 32-year-old southpaw is a Commonwealth 2018 and Olympic 2020 champion, who spent many years on the Team GB squad.

He only turned pro just over two years ago, debuting in February 2022. He continued the theme that many elite amateurs brave, by competing for a title in his very first fight. He won the WBC International flyweight belt via fifth-round KO, then defended it five times to climb up to the top spot in the WBC world rankings.

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In his last fight, he took on Sunny Edwards, a former IBF world flyweight champ, who many believed had the best chance of stopping Yafai’s rapid rise, especially as he held a win over him in the amateurs.

Instead, however, the usually slick, slippery Sunny was battered from pillar to post until the referee mercifully stepped in to stop the one-sided beatdown in round six.

Yafai’s performance was simply stunning and he knocked the fight out of Edwards, who really didn’t want to be in there with him.

Now he has another world champion boxer to contend with, but one who hits far harder and possesses invaluable experience at the very top.

Francisco Rodriguez Jr: The experienced visitor has shared the ring with Hall of Fame legends so fighting a 9-0 prospect will not faze him at all

Mexican Rodriguez’s fighting style typifies that of his nation. He is rugged, aggressive, tough, durable, relentless, powerful and comes with a big heart.

He has three times the knockouts that Yafai has had fights, so he comes to the UK with a wealth of experience.

Like most Mexican fighters, he turned pro very young, at 17, and had his first 15 bouts locally.

He became a world champion in 2014, 11 years ago now, and unified in the same year to hold both the WBO and IBF minimumweight titles.

He moved up to light-flyweight with ambitions to become a two-weight world champion, but failed to dethrone Filipino legend Donnie Nietes in 2015.

His only defeats have come at the hands of world champions, apart from his early slip-up in his ninth pro bout. His only knockout loss came at the hands of another boxing legend, Roman Gonzalez, the only four-weight world champion in Nicaragua’s history.

“Chocolatito” really piled on the pressure, but Rodriguez was still firing back and seemingly able to continue when the referee jumped in to stop the contest in the seventh round. Stopped on his feet, Rodriguez displayed his disappointment, fully believing he was fit to fight on.

He has only lost twice in his last 23 contests, and that was to Kazuto Ioka and Junto Nakatani, taking both the distance and giving each of them plenty to think about.

For a fighter that has only been stopped once in 47 bouts, which came 12 years ago, Yafai has to be fully prepared to suffer 12 torrid rounds against the upset-minded visitor.

Gala Yafai vs Francisco Rodriguez Jr: The key factors

Both boxers are aggressive and have a high KO ratio, so this is almost guaranteed to be a thrilling spectacle!

Yafai’s punches are more clubbing to wear his opponents down over time, whereas Rodriguez can land huge hooks to take foes off their feet.

Rodriguez rotates his hips fully, so when he swings in left and right hooks, it has the full power of his arms, body and legs behind them.

Yafai can punch his rivals into submission by utilising his big engine and producing such a high output, raining down punches from all angles, to overwhelm and take away any possible answers.

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Rodriguez has only been stopped once in 15 years and 47 fights, so this has a high chance of going the distance, especially when the likes of Nakatani couldn’t get him out of there very recently.

Yafai’s previous KOs have all come at different stages in the fights – early, middle and late. He stopped Sergio Orozco Oliva early in three of eight; Sunny Edwards midway in six of 12; Agustin Mauro Gauto later in eight of 10. So he has the power to last.

But the Brummie does get hit back, which is inevitable when fighting in close quarters and opening up so often to attack. So far, he has absorbed all the big shots coming back at him, even smiling at his rivals on occasions when getting caught. But on one or two occurrences, those big shots have looked hurtful and appeared to have had an effect on him, despite his defiance in smiling back.

So he can get hit and he can be hurt, and Rodriguez is an excellent counter-puncher. 

Both boxers are aggressive, powerful, busy with a high workrate and punch output, so there will not be a dull moment in this championship contest. Fight fans are in for a treat.

FIRST’s’ top tip for Galal Yafai vs Francisco Rodriguez Jr. 

Yafai to meet his match early on, but gradually increase his confidence, workrate and output to gain dominance and control the contest. Yafai to win is currently 4/11 at Ladbrokes.

Extra tips 

Yafai to use Roman Gonzalez’s blueprint to overwhelm and stop Rodriguez is currently 10/3 at Betway.

As mentioned, Yafai has the ability to stop opponents early, middle and late, but Rodriguez would take some time in breaking down, so perhaps best to avoid betting on an early finish here.

Peter McGrail vs Ionut Baluta

This pesky Romanian has been a blight upon the Everton Red Triangle gym, defeating both Andrew Cain and Brad Strand. Each one was a split decision win, coming two years apart, in March 2023 against Cain and March 2025 against Strand.

Peter McGrail will be fully incentivised to gain revenge for his teammates, as will his trainer Paul Stevenson, especially when Cain was widely considered to have been robbed in his fight.

The Olympian’s skillset is highly impressive and he has the elusive style to avoid most of what Baluta can throw back by using his impressive movement and agility.

Peter McGrail to defeat Ionut Baluta on points is currently 1/2 at Betway.