Dominican Republic’s Eliesel Rodriguez Ledesma tipped to be a future world champion

Eliesel Rodriguez Ledesma tipped to conquer the world by BiYu Boxing CEO Harrison

Rookie featherweight pro Eliesel "El Guardia" Rodriguez Ledesma has been tipped to become a future world champion – after launching his pro career with back-to-back knockout victories.

The 22-year-old Dominican Republic fighter (2-0, 2KOs), cousin of 2008 Olympic gold medallist Felix Diaz, has signed to Bobby Harrison’s Houston-based BiYu Boxing Promotions and Harrison believes he has discovered the country’s next big boxing star.

After his opening two professional bouts, the BiYu CEO is confident that Ledesma can reach the very top of the profession. The young fighter could get his first major opportunity via the recently announced Riyadh Season Boxing World Cup, which aims to discover the next generation of global stars.

Ledesma meets the criteria for the hotly anticipated event, revealed at the 2024 WBC Convention and backed by Turki Alalshikh.

Harrison said: “We knew Eliesel was a very good fighter based on our research and his amateur career but even we have been surprised just how accomplished a boxer he is for his age.

“He is very serious, very modest, very quiet and much more mature than his 22 years. It is very early days but I feel we have unearthed a real gem who has the tools and the talent to become a world champion.

“Having seen his first fight, he has agility, endurance, speed, strength, and power. He is also a switch-hitter with the ability to hit hard with both hands and from all angles.”

Harrison added: “We have put him forward for the very first Riyadh Season Boxing World Cup and are confident he can make a real impact. Right now we are waiting to find out if he has been successful to compete in the featherweight division.

“We are also in the process of lining up a third bout so he can continue to build up experience.”

Ledesma, who joined the military at 16 and has served six years in the Dominican Republic Air Force as a paratrooper, opened his professional career with a second round stoppage of Jhonatan Nolasco (0-7-1) on December 12th 2024.

He followed this up with another second round knockout over Omar Carvajal (2-4-0) in Colombia on January 10th.

Ledesma, who was inspired by his cousin’s gold medal exploits to take up boxing, has shone as an amateur and is a three-time champion of the ‘Copa Independienca’ winning in 2019, 2021 and 2024.