Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez to Defend WBC Junior Bantamweight Title Against Pedro Guevara in November

Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez has locked in his next opponent…

The 24-year-old Mexican American boxer, one of boxing’s rising stars, will defend his titles on November 9 at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn has announced.

Jesse "Bam" RodriguezRodriguez (20-0, 13 KOs), who is No. 7 on ESPN‘s pound-for-pound rankings, will defend his WBC junior bantamweight title against Pedro Guevara, in a 12-round bout.

It will be Rodriguez’s first defense of the title, which he won in spectacular fashion by knocking out Juan Francisco Estrada in the seventh round.

Guevara (42-4-1, 22 KOs), a former junior flyweight champion and ESPN‘s No. 7 junior bantamweight, will be fighting for the third time in 2024.

He has won his past two bouts after dropping a close decision to Carlos Cuadras in November 2023.

Bruno Mars’ 24K Magic Tour Tops $129 Million in Ticket Sales

Bruno Mars is makin’ major magic… and money…

The 32-year-old part-Puerto Rican Grammy-winning singer/songwriter has topped $129 million in ticket sales so far from the ongoing tour in support of 24K Magic, his third studio album released in November of 2016.

Bruno Mars

The most recent report of box office activity from the tour’s producer, Live Nation, includes $76 million in revenue from the pop star’s current trek through North American cities that runs through November 11.

Sales from this trek through the U.S. and Canada earn Mars a third-place slot on Billboard’s weekly recap of Hot Tours.

The 24K Magic Tour launched earlier this year in Europe with a slate of arena dates through 34 cities that stretched from March 28 until June 15. The North American leg followed a brief four-week break, beginning with a July 15 performance at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Through the tour’s Oct. 10 performance at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia (the last show included in this week’s report), a total of 659,190 sold tickets at 42 concerts in 32 cities produced the $76 million North American gross.

Nine venues on the trek hosted Mars for two performances, but only Chicago’s United Center booked the tour for three nights. With sellouts at each show, the Windy City arena logged a total of 47,942 fans in attendance on Aug. 16, 18 and 19 with sales hitting $6.3 million. It is the singer’s highest-grossing North American engagement this year and ranks second among all the dates reported worldwide since the tour began in the spring. Only London’s O2 Arena logged a higher gross with £5.1 million ($6.6 million) earned at four performances in April.

Now nearing the end of his first run stateside, Mars is set to wrap the 17-week jaunt with a four-show stint at The Forum in Los Angeles on Nov. 7, 8, 10 & 11.

Shows in Latin American markets are booked for the remainder of 2017 and early next year, followed by a trek through Australia and New Zealand.