Daddy fights tonight...nice article mentioning the twins

First, pictures of Edwin's DAFOs...make sure to read article below



Edwin Rodriguez – The Young King of a Fighting Family

by David P. Greisman

They were little fighters from birth. Their father was an accomplished amateur boxer who turned pro, the job of supporting his growing family now in his gloved hands.

Their father, Edwin Rodriguez fights tonight, the eighth bout of a career that began just seven months ago. His match will come on the undercard of a Peter Manfredo Jr. main event in Lincoln, R.I., at a time when a handful of Rodriguez's peers have been on national television from the Olympics in Beijing.

Life happens beyond the ropes, though, in this case the premature birth of twins to Rodriguez and his fiancée, Stephanie. Serena Lynn and Edwin Jr. were due Jan. 21, 2007, but they were born Sept. 29, 2006, each weighing one pound, three ounces. They were little fighters from the beginning. Serena Lynn recently had surgery on her vocal cords. Edwin Jr. is working on being able to walk. Their father fights for them, too, especially now that the family is beyond the worst moments.

"It was a really tough time, " Rodriguez, 23, of Worcester, Mass., said earlier this week. "One day they were doing good, and the next day I watched my son pretty much die, and they brought him back a couple of times. We stayed in the hospital for about four, five months when they were born. They were so tiny.

"At the time we didn't really feel like parents, because they weren't home with us," he said. "It was tough for my girl especially. She was always crying every time she was at home without the kids. We took them home, and we were so excited. And yet we were so worried because they were coming home with oxygen."

Before, Rodriguez was an amateur middleweight who had won the 2005 USA Boxing national championship and the 2006 Golden Gloves national championship. He had his sights set on making the national team and fighting in 2008 in China.

"I thought I was going to be an Olympian, but it didn't work out that way," Rodriguez said. "The day I was supposed to go for the first qualifier, they were born, so I had to cancel it and stay by my wife's side, and I'm happy I did that. For the second qualifier I was actually trying to work out, trying to juggle going to the gym and seeing the babies. Witnessing my son almost die a couple times, my body was there, but my mind wasn't.

"I didn't make the team," he said. "It was something I was thinking about for quite a bit. But I'm excited. I was able to turn my life around. I'm doing good now."

That he is. In seven fights, Rodriguez has seven victories, five of which have ended in knockouts. Not bad for someone who had preferred America's Pastime to the Sweet Science before he arrived in the United States.

"I came from the Dominican Republican in 1998. Our first sport is baseball," Rodriguez said. "But when I came over here, we couldn't play all season because of the winter. I needed to pick up another sport. A friend of my brother introduced me to boxing. I loved it."

And boxing meshes well with his other competitive outlet - chess.

"I was in middle school, and I remember they had a little tournament in seventh grade. I didn't even qualify," Rodriguez said. "I bought a board, and I used to play my dad everyday. He's pretty good at it. Even days I didn't want to play, we played. I picked it up pretty fast. I went to high school and I just kept playing. Now I love it. I play online. I play everyday.

"It's a thinking game. It's just like boxing. You've got to be a move ahead of your opponent. You've got to set them up for that knockout. You've got to get that checkmate. It's basically the same thing, but you're not hurting anyone."

Rodriguez has yet to sign with a promoter. At tonight's card, he'll have at least one interested observer considering whether the young middleweight will be a grandmaster of the ring.

"I think he's one of the most exciting fighters coming out of New England right now," said Jimmy Burchfield, whose CES Boxing is putting on the Rhode Island show. "I think he'll give us a good opportunity for his team to see how we do things, and I'd like to see how we do things. We're always looking to make champions, and I think he surely has the qualifications to be a world champion.

"He's a tremendously big middleweight, so that's a great advantage," Burchfield said. "He doesn't seem to be having any problem making middleweight. He's long. He's rangy. He can box. He can punch. Edwin, with what he's done as an amateur, he's got some great qualifications."

Rodriguez's opponent is Marcus Upshaw, a 6-foot-3, 28-year-old Floridian with eight wins and two losses. Upshaw is the second straight opponent with a winning record that Rodriguez has faced.

"We know that Edwin had this raw talent, and we're trying to cultivate it," said Larry Army, Rodriguez's manager. Army also represents Manfredo.

"We want him to be with the right promoter," Army said. "What we've decided, the first year of Edwin's career, we're going to test the waters and see who we like and who we don't like."

Rodriguez said he lets his team worry about promoters. His thoughts are toward the ring and his future.

"I like to take it one fight at a time, but I want to get the youth middleweight title by the end of this year," Rodriguez said. "I want to be 10 to 12 and 0 by the end of this year. My ultimate goal is to become undisputed middleweight champion.

"I work hard to become the best," he said. "It doesn't matter what I do. I'm going to work as hard as I can to be able to accomplish my goals."