DiBella on Ward-Rodriguez: No Deal if The Same Offer

By Rick Reeno

Late Friday night, WBA super middleweight champion Andre Ward (26-0, 14KOs) announced on the social networks that he signed his portion of the bout agreement to defend his title against undefeated contender Edwin Rodriguez (24-0, 16KOs) on November 16th on HBO. However, Rodriguez's promoter Lou DiBella does not expect a deal unless the financial terms are increased. Rodriguez was previously offered $800,000.

"If the offer is the same then our answer is the same. It won't be a long conversation. If the deal is right, then nobody on Rodriguez's team - not myself, not [manager] Al Haymon, not [trainer] Ronnie Shields - none of us would be opposed to the fight," DiBella told BoxingScene.com.

HBO has reportedly placed over $3 million dollars on the table for the fight - and Rodriguez's team believe the current offer is too low based on the fact that Ward's side is retaining the entire gate and other sources of revenue.