1-0 1 TKO

Edwin Rodriguez Scores KO in Pro Debut

Two-time national amateur champion Edwin Rodriguez of Worcester, Mass., made a most successful professional debut Saturday night, stopping Samuel Ortiz Gomez by technical knockout in the first round of a middleweight bout scheduled for four rounds in Mansfield, Mass.

The 22-year-old, 6-foot Rodriguez had little trouble with Gomez, knocking him down twice and halting him at 1:22 of the first.

Rodriguez dropped Gomez, from Orlando, Fla., with a left to the body with but 45 seconds gone in the round. The second and final knockdown administered by Rodriguez came from a right to the head.

“I wanted to take him out,” said Rodriguez, who won the USA Boxing national championship for 2005 and the Golden Gloves national championship for 2006. “Of course, it’s early in my career, but I wanted to make a statement that I’m and up-and- coming prospect.

“I have every confidence I’ll be a world champ,” says Rodriguez, who has lived in Worcester since arriving in the United States from his native Dominican Republic during 1998. “I know every one who turns pro says that, but I believe I have the background and the tools to make it happen.”

Those tools include a large upper body, quick hands, superb technique, deft defense and outstanding power, all of which were on display the brief time Gomez weathered Rodriguez’s onslaught.

Rodriguez weighed 162 pounds while the 25-year-old Gomez, now 0-4, came in at 156.

Rodriguez’s next fight, to take place during February, will be announced soon.

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Sunday, January 27, 2008
Rodriguez scores a TKO in pro debut

22-year-old overpowers first opponent in just 82 seconds

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

MANSFIELD— Flanked as he entered the ring by those who wrote most of Worcester’s earlier boxing history, middleweight Edwin Rodriguez last night took the first step toward what he hopes is a new chapter in that story.

Accompanied on his march into the Mansfield SportsPlex arena by former Worcester standouts José Antonio Rivera, Bobby Harris and Sean Fitzgerald, the 22-year-old Rodriguez went on the attack right away, cutting loose with a flurry of punches to the body and head of Samuel Ortiz Gomez before scoring a lopsided TKO at 1:22 of the first round in his pro debut before a highly partisan crowd of more than 1,000 fans.

With a seven-inch height advantage, not to mention a significant edge in strength and ability, Rodriguez made quick work of the winless Ortiz (0-4), who had to be flown in from Orlando, Fla., and was paid more money because of the difficulty Rodriguez’s handlers already are having finding opponents for the two-time national amateur champion from the Dominican Republic.


“Tonight’s fight won’t help that,” shrugged Larry Army Jr., Rodriguez’s manager. “Right now, there’s not a lot of younger fighters in Massachusetts who will fight us.”

Rodriguez hopes to pick up the championship gauntlet recently thrown down by Rivera, the now-retired three-time world welterweight champion. But first he had to overcome fears about fighting for the first time with 10-ounce gloves and without amateur headgear.

“It was easier (than I thought),” he said, “because as soon as I let one punch go, it was like, ‘Oh, it’s the same thing.’ It’s the same game, just no headgear and smaller gloves, so I was faster. Every time I hit him, I’d feel like I was hitting him, where in amateurs you’d hit somebody and it felt like a little love tap.

“Now I feel the power going through my whole body.”

Imagine how the 25-year-old Ortiz felt. He went down to one knee twice to avoid Rodriguez’s assault, and when referee Mike Marvelle asked him how he felt after the second knockdown, he shook his head no, ending the fight after 82 seconds — which is 39 seconds longer than he lasted in his previous outing.

“We worked on going to the body in the first round, chopping the tree down,” said Rodriguez, who weighed in at 162 pounds, safely under the 163 limit for this bout. It was a distinct change from his amateur days, when he would have to starve himself for a week to make weight, but getting a nutritionist has changed all that.

“It played a big role,” Rodriguez said. “I was energized; I was hyper. I did what I had to do — I took him out early, as expected.”

Rodriguez fights next on Feb. 8 at The Castle in Boston against 22-year-old Fitzgerald Johnson (1-2-0, 1 KO) of Ashboro, N.C. He also has tentative bouts set for Feb. 23 in New York City, March 7 in Philadelphia, and a blueprint for as far down the road as April in California and May in Albuquerque, N.M.

“We’re very happy with the fight and the outcome,” Army said. “I think tonight was the first step toward our goal, and our goal has always been world championship titles — plural. All in all, I would say it’s an A-plus.”

Team Rodriguez sold about 200 tickets for the fight, but Army estimated the Worcester-area contingent at about 450, including a virtual battalion of Worcester police officers.

“I didn’t know I had so many fans,” said Rodriguez, who was greeted by a rousing standing ovation by fans clad in yellow team T-shirts. “I didn’t want to let nobody down. I had my family, my fiancée, everybody here supporting me. … I was under pressure, but I did what I had to do to come out with an impressive win.”

Edwin on film
Good news apparently travels fast. Based entirely on his gaudy amateur credentials, Rodriguez is already the subject of a documentary being prepared by 3 Ring Films of Northampton.

Steve Forman, who heads a six-man crew that was on hand for Rodriguez’s pro debut last night, said the film actually will focus on three amateur fighters — U.S. Olympic favorite Demetrius “Boo Boo” Andrade of Providence, the World Championships gold medalist and four-time national amateur champion at welterweight; Danny O’Connor of Framingham, a junior welterweight standout; and Rodriguez, all of whom are close friends.

“They’re the three best young fighters in this game,” said Forman, who said he chose Rodriguez because of his two national amateur titles and his pro potential.

“I think he’s got tremendous heart, and he’s talented,” Forman added. “I’m particularly interested in his making the transition from the amateur to the pro game.”


The shirts say "Team Rodriguez" on the back, and on the front say "My Daddy is a future world champ!"
Made my Stephanie, Guinn Triplet's mom!