The Way I See It: 03.17.09: La Bomba Set to Explode
Posted by Joe Roche on 03.17.2010
2005 USA Boxing National Champion and 2006 Golden Gloves gold medalist Edwin "La Bomba" Rodriguez is set to make his network television debut on ESPN 2's "Friday Night Fights!" 411s Joe Roche discusses his upcoming battle with George "The Rooster" Armenta
You may not know Edwin Rodriguez (13-0, 9 KO) yet, but the Dominican born fighter who lives in Worcester, Massachusetts hopes to change all that this Friday night. The 2005 USA Boxing National Champion and 2006 Golden Gloves gold medalist is set to make his network television debut on ESPN 2's "Friday Night Fights" in an 8-round super middleweight bout against wily veteran George "The Rooster" Armenta.
For his television debut "La Bomba" will likely be in the best shape of his career having been in the gym for quite a long time. "I've been training now for about fourteen weeks, because I was supposed to fight on the [Andre] Berto/[Shane] Mosley undercard but that fight got cancelled." The gym that Rodriguez has been training in the world famous Manfredo Gym in Providence, Rhode Island, Edwin trains under the watchful eye of Peter Manfredo Sr. Of course the last time Manfredo Sr. had a fighter appear on Friday Night Fights (Jesse Brinkley vs. Curtis Stevens on Jan. 29, 2010) he [Manfredo Sr.] wound up in the ring, a situation that Rodriguez couldn't help but laugh about. "I haven't had a discussion with him yet, but I plan to [let him know that he doesn't need to get involved on Friday night]. He's a very emotional guy."
For Rodriguez his television debut on Friday night will make a major step in his career. One year to the day, on March 19, 2009 he was fighting in front of a less then sold out crowd at Mechanics Hall in Worcester and now after twelve months (and a surgery) he'll be fighting in Durant, Oklahoma as the co-feature fighter on ESPN. Asking if he could have imagined where he is today one year ago Edwin laughs. "Honestly, not really. I didn't think far ahead I'm more of a day by day kind of guy. I'm pretty sure that March 19, 2009 I was just thinking ahead to that fight. My hometown debut and at that time that was big. So now this is way bigger I'm going to be on national TV but it's kind of like the same type of feeling. At that point it was just as big as this is right now."
And make no mistake this is a pressure filled moment for Rodriguez, someone who even at a young age is used to pressure packed situations. In 2006 Rodriguez had twins who were born very pre-mature on the day that he was set to begin the Olympic Trials. At that moment he made a decision, his family was more important then his Olympic dream and because of that one of the great amateur boxers in the country missed the 2006 Games. "The Olympics was something that I wanted for so long and it was something I wanted to do badly. I worked hard for it, and I wasn't able to accomplish it because my kids were born that day [day of the Olympic Qualifier] that I was going to go to the trials. They were 23 weeks and 5 days so they were really, really tiny so every day they were fighting for their lives and today they're doing much better. Me wanting to be an Olympian was a good thing but my family comes first so I don't regret the decision that I made and I'm going to try and move on. It was something I wanted to do bad, but you have to have priorities in life and see what's more important to you and obviously my family is so I made that decision. Now we're working on being a World Champion."
On March 19, 2010 Rodriguez begins his trek towards the top of the super middleweight division. At one time he was hailed as a top prospect at middleweight, but the 6'1 Rodriguez continued to grow and he realized that killing himself to make weight was taking away from some of his capacity in the ring. "It's a lot easier [to make weight]. There is a lot of stress; we're working on trying to learn and trying to keep improving rather then focusing on losing weight with bags and all the other crap. I feel much, much stronger. Me trying to get down to 160 it was weeks and weeks of training myself to get down there, now it's nice and easy nice and comfortable."
As someone who walks around at 175 pounds like Rodriguez it's obviously much less stressful to drop down to 168 pounds and the super middleweight division, a difference which should be apparent against Armenta, a fighter who is known for his fluctuating weight. In his last three fights Armenta has fought as low as 154 pounds and as high as 175 pounds, losing two of those three fights. But don't think Rodriguez looks at the recent history and dismisses Armenta. "I respect him; he's one of those tough Mexican fighters. He beat a former Olympian Dante Craig, he also had an upset again that guy from Puerto Rico on Showtime [Irving Garcia] and I'm just hoping that the best George Armenta is showing up on that night so I can impress, because it takes two to put on a good fight and I'm ready."
Putting on a good show on Friday Night Fights it the key for Rodriguez. We all watched "The Event" and while it might not be fair, many fight fans will have lasting memories of John Duddy's feather fists, or the trouble that Humberto Soto had with David Diaz you can never change a first impression, and this Friday is Edwin's chance to make a first impression. "I'm very excited, it's my TV debut. There is a lot of pressure with me trying to impress everybody and I plan on doing that. I perform well under pressure, I've been working hard there is no need to feel other pressure because we're ready. I worked really hard, we worked on everything we had to work on to fix mistakes we were making and right now I'm feeling great and ready to go."
"I want to impress, so I do want a knockout. I won't go out looking for it but if I get him hurt, I'm gonna get him out of there because everyone loves knockouts. Basically I'm kind of gonna look for it but isn't that what every boxer does? I'm going to work off my jab and if I get him hurt I'm going to get him out of there. I'm not going to be stupid and just go crazy, but at the same time I'm going to be setting him up."
The key for Rodriguez and the reason that his television debut is coming as such an opportune time is that he's probably in the best shape/condition of his life. Not just training wise, but mentally. In 2006 Edwin had to deal with his twins being born premature and the very real health risks that came along with that in 2009 coming off a huge victory in front of his hometown fans in Worcester Edwin underwent surgery setting back his progress. Today Edwin's children are doing well, and I can personally vouch for the fact that his son loves boxing probably as much as his father, and Edwin is one year removed from his surgery both mentally and physically the Edwin Rodriguez that you will all see on Friday night may very well be the best Edwin Rodriguez that anyone has ever seen in a boxing ring. "This is the best [I've ever been] but like I said the goal is to keep improving and every fight it'll be a better Edwin Rodriguez every time out. Right now we just keep improving to become World Champion."
At this time last year he was getting ready for his local debut, so before I could end the interview I had to know if Edwin ever thinks about where he might be on March 19, 2011. "The goal is to become a top 10 contender, to be ready to fight for a title so by the end of the year by this time next year we want to position ourselves to challenge for a world title. Things are moving a bit faster now as I just heard that I might be fighting in April in Chicago on Showtime again, but right now this fight is the only thing I'm thinking about."
Every fighter dreams of being on TV, or at least I assume that every fighter has that dream and Edwin Rodriguez is on the cusp of fulfilling one of his dreams. I have always maintained in this space that I'm not objective with everyone and with Edwin Rodriguez I'm not objective. I've had the pleasure of talking boxing with Edwin on various occasions, I've been fortunate enough to see him fight live, and I can say that I've seen him get decimated by Mike Tyson in Fight Night Round 4. I like Edwin Rodriguez, I think he's a great guy and on Friday night in Durant, Oklahoma the rest of the boxing world will finally see what everyone in Central Massachusetts and New England have known for a few years now, that Edwin Rodriguez is one of the brightest prospects in boxing.
