6-0!!!!

Sunday, May 18, 2008
Rodriguez notches TKO in first main event

BOXING

By Bud Barth TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
hbarth@telegram.com


BOSTON— His fight delayed almost two hours because of shoddy ring ropes that had to be repaired twice during the night, Worcester middleweight Edwin Rodriguez still managed to shine while fighting in the first main event of his pro career.

The 23-year-old Rodriguez, unable to attack the well-protected head of 25-year-old Anthony Cannon of Saginaw, Mich., found the range with some crippling body shots, especially in the third and fourth rounds, eventually forcing Cannon’s corner men to step in and stop the scheduled six-rounder at 1:07 of the fourth round before about 400 fans last night at Freeport Hall in Dorchester.

The TKO raised Rodriguez’s professional record to 6-0-0 with five knockouts, while Cannon — a last-minute substitute opponent — fell to 4-9-0.


Cannon’s strategy was simple — back into a corner and protect his head and stomach with his gloves and arms, occasionally exploding out of that possum posture to throw a left hook, which connected several times to the head of Rodriguez.

“He caught me a couple of times, but I was never hurt,” Rodriguez said. “I always kept my composure. I knew his game plan. He was just trying to catch me with a good shot.”

Rodriguez won the first three rounds handily, punctuating the end of the third with a right-hand shot to the kidney area just before the bell as Cannon was backed into his own corner. Cannon buried his head in his gloves in obvious pain.

Rodriguez didn’t waste any time in the fourth round, going to the same spot and landing a wicked right to the body that brought a grimace to Cannon’s face while he again was backed into his own corner. His handlers immediately stepped in and signaled to referee Charlie Dwyer to stop it.

“I thought I had him hurt in the first round, and I tried to take him out,” Rodriguez said, “but I realized I had six rounds, so I went to work and took my time, and that’s what I did. I knew I was going to be able to break him down and that he wasn’t going to be able to go six rounds with me.”

Rodriguez said he thought Cannon’s handlers made the right move by stopping the fight “because I was going to end up hurting him.”

Asked about what’s next, Rodriguez talked about making his Worcester debut on June 27 at the Lincoln Street Armory. An opponent has not been chosen, but Rodriguez boasted: “I’m ready for anybody … and I mean anybody.”

The card started more than an hour late, and then there were the ring rope problems, which caused a pair of 30-minute delays. Rodriguez’s fight didn’t begin until almost 10:40 p.m.

Cannon was a substituted opponent chosen Friday night after Rodriguez’s original foe, 28-year-old Luis Hodge (5-6-1, 3) of Sarasota, Fla., flunked his pre-fight physical because of an irregular EKG.

Not willing to put on the card without Rodriguez, who was the main attraction, promoters replaced Hodge with Cannon, who had been scheduled to fight Derek Hinkey (4-1-0, 1). That left Hinkey, a middleweight from Reno, Nev., without an opponent, so he was the odd-man out and didn’t fight.

Cannon didn’t have quite the credentials of Hodge, whose last seven opponents had a combined record of 69-10-1, with five of them undefeated.

Cannon’s previous six opponents had a combined record of 37-3-1. They included Aaron Pryor Jr. (10-0-0, 7) and Andy Lee (15-1-0, 12).