By Ian S Palmer
Undefeated American Andre Ward will be putting his WBA Super Middleweight Title on the line this Saturday, November 16 when he takes on unbeaten challenger Edwin Rodriguez of Dominican Republic in Ontario, California. Actually the 12-round bout, which can be seen across North America on HBO, is for the super, Super Middleweight Title, that’s how bad boxing has become.
Ward is regarded by many to be one of the best pound-for-pound boxers on the planet. And while he just may be, he’s also quite boring to watch and hasn’t fought for the past 14 months. If you add in the fact that not too many North American fans have heard of Rodriguez, this fight could be a bit of a snore fest.
The 29-year-old Ward has built up a perfect record up until now as he’s 26-0 and has 14 Kos. He recently has shoulder surgery and he’s ready to give it a test. He claims the shoulder feels the best it ever has as it’s more powerful and stronger than before and he’s looking forward to getting back into the ring. Unless this fight ends in a draw, somebody’s O will have to go since the challenger is also unbeaten.
The 28-year old Rodriguez now lives in Massachusetts and will step into the ring with a perfect mark of 24-0 along with 16 Kos to his name. He was a good amateur and a national Golden Gloves champion and has adjusted well to the pro game. However, he comes in second best to Ward in most areas of the sport, especially experience, defence, and punch accuracy. He does have the slight edge in power and punch output though.
Ward is just as good on the inside as well as he is on the outside. He’s very smart and can easily adapt to his opponent during a fight. He’s not the most exciting boxer around though because he doesn’t throwing too many punches. His accuracy makes up for the lack of activity and he can find an opening if presented with one.
Edwin Rodriguez has a good jab as well as a fine sense of timing and distance. He’s pretty good defensively, but not in Ward’s class. He needs to be as active as possible and stay closer to the champion. His right hand is good when set up with a jab, but he needs to throw a lot of combinations against Ward to be successful and to try and keep him off balance.
The matchup itself isn’t bad, but don’t look for a slugfest here. Rodriguez will need to come up with the fight of his life to win this. A stoppage is unlikely, but it could be interesting if the challenger matches Ward or beats him when it comes to aggression and speed. If Rodriguez does manage to stagger Ward he should jump all over him and make sure he doesn’t let him off the hook by giving him a chance to recover. When all’s said and done though, look for Ward to retain his belt by a relatively comfortable unanimous decision.
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