Galal Yafai suffers shock defeat to Francisco Rodriguez in Olympic champion's hometown of Birmingham
Mexico's Francisco Rodriguez beat Galal Yafai on a unanimous decision to win the WBC interim flyweight title at the bp pulse LIVE arena in Birmingham; Rodriguez dropped the Olympic gold medallist in the last round as he handed Yafai a punishing defeat
Sunday 22 June 2025 09:08, UK
Olympic champion Galal Yafai suffered a shock loss to Francisco Rodriguez in his hometown of Birmingham.
Mexico's Rodriguez inflicted a damaging unanimous decision defeat on Yafai at the bp pulse LIVE arena.
Mexico's Rodriguez dropped Yafai in the final round, claiming a unanimous decision victory by 118-109 and 119-108 twice at the bp pulse LIVE arena.
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Yafai won the flyweight gold medal in spectacular style at the Tokyo Games in 2021. He raced to win the WBC interim title in just nine professional bouts when he dominated former champion Sunny Edwards in November.
But Rodriguez, a veteran of 47 pro contests, matched his aggression and work rate. The Mexican made his power tell early on. Rodriguez worried Yafai with hooks. A bad cut compounded Yafai's problems.
Undeterred, Yafai fired back with his southpaw left and Rodriguez picked up a cut too. They traded fierce shots but Rodriguez was hurting Yafai. To add the final flourish, a flurry of head shots knocked Yafai over in the 12th round as the Mexican sealed victory in an all-action fight.
On the undercard in Birmingham another Tokyo Olympian, Peter McGrail, picked up a majority decision win in his 10 rounder with Ionut Baluta, while Conah Walker defended the British welterweight title when he knocked out Liam Taylor in seven rounds with a heavy left hook.
Paris Olympian Pat Brown picked up his second stoppage win in the second bout of his professional career when he halted Ivan Duka, putting him down with an uppercut in the second round.
