Although the South African was stopped in 10 rounds, he showed a lot of heart before being overcome by the three-division champion.

"Even though things didn't go my way, I think I performed well," Cafu (11-1-3, 8 KOs) told The Ring.

"It's different when you're watching a guy and actually inside the ring with them. I thought it was going to be easy to read Bam, so I would counter him, but just couldn't read him properly.

"He's very good, the way he puts his punches together, how he moves and feints. He's always sharp and even after throwing, he's very cautious. No excuses, I did everything and was prepared for the fight, he's just so good and things didn't go my way. After the fight I told him, he's the best."

Rodriguez has gone from strength-to-strength since taking Cafu's WBO belt, knocking out Fernando Martinez in 10 rounds for the WBA title before jumping up to 118 pounds, stopping Antonio Vargas for the WBA strap June 13.

Such has been his rise, a showdown with pound-for-pound king Naoya Inoue, the Ring and undisputed junior featherweight kingpin has been mooted for early next year.

"I feel like that's a good, 50/50 fight," Cafu said.

"I feel Inoue hasn't fought anyone like Bam. I have Bam winning but it's not going to be easy for him, nor will it be easy for Inoue to read Bam's moves. If you watch his last fight, he was winding Vargas up, catching him with very good left hands ... he does everything right and I don't see a guy like that losing any time soon."

Meanwhile, it is now time for Cafu to turn the page on his own career.

That begins when The Ring's No. 4 junior bantamweight returns against Jemuel Aranas on Saturday at Beula Park Academy in Germiston, South Africa.

"I'm very excited to come back," he said. "I took a two-month break and then kept showing myself in the gym, probably two times a week. I was with my family most of the time but early this year, I started training and giving 100 percent in the gym again."

His manager-trainer Colin Nathan believes his fighter can regain world title honors, though is taking it one fight at a time.

"The plan is to get back to his winning ways," Nathan said. "Then get into conversations, positioning to get another world title shot. But first things first, we need to win on August 1."

Meanwhile, the 27-year-old hopes to knock any ring rust off before a return to the world scene.

"I'll just try to perform, make sure I'm flawless and get the rounds in, so when I am going for a world title [opportunity], I'm know I'm well equipped for it," he said.

"I want my title back. I feel it belongs to, and needs to get back to me. I feel like that [a fight with Kenshiro Teraji] would be an easy one to make. We can make that happen, I go back to Japan and snatch the title. It'll be like deja vu, plus it will be very good to have both Teraji and Kosei Tanaka on my resume."

Having fallen short after daring to become great against Rodriguez, he hopes one day there will be another title unification opportunity. That being said, he believes the weight class' depth in South Africa could very well see him face a compatriot further down the road.

"The next step after trying to be a champion is unifying the division. You have another South African, Ricardo Malajika, he'll be fighting for the WBC title soon and also my stablemate Sikho Nqothole contesting the IBF. It's good and exciting for South African boxing, so hopefully Malajika wins, I do too and we can have the WBO/WBC titles on the line because I don't want to just hold one belt. I want to unify, then go up and conquer bantamweight."

Aranas (9-3-1, 5 KOs) turned professional in September 2023, debuting at strawweight before gradually moving up in weight.

The 21-year-old came up short in a pair of fights against countryman Nathaniel Dorona (KO 1, UD 10) when boxing for the national title last year, though is riding a two-fight win streak heading into this matchup.