By Victor Salazar
Light heavyweight Edwin Rodriguez (27-1, 18 KO's) looks to remain active and would love to land a big fight in Canada. After his victory in Boston on May 23, he told BoxingScene.com that he wanted to fight WBC champion Adonis Stevenson. However if he doesn’t land a fight with Stevenson, he would love to travel to Canada for a big fight.
Adonis Stevenson is the best fighter at 175 right now and we want to fight the best,” Rodriguez said to BoxingScene.com in a video interview. “If I can’t get that, I’ll go after (Andrzej) Fonfara, (Lucian) Bute, or (Jean) Pascal. The road is going to be Canada. There’s those 3 guys in Canada and that’s who I want. Stevenson’s the champion and he’s Canada. Bute is a big draw and he’s from Canada, and Pascal as well. That’s where the big fights are.”
Rodriguez feels he is well equipped to take on anyone at 175 and feel he has improved as a fighter with his move up in weight.
“I feel like a carried my power with me to 175,” Rodriguez said. “I got my speed. I don’t feel like I lost anything in moving up. I’m ready for all those and even Fonfara, I think it’d be a good fight.”
One name that wasn’t mentioned was Sergey Kovalev. Rodriguez feels that if the Kovalev fight is there, he would love to take it but is unsure because of the network situation.
“I love to fight Kovalev but hey have the issues with HBO and things like that,” explained Rodriguez. “But then again I was with Al Haymon and Lou DiBella when I fought Andre Ward on HBO.”
But Rodriguez says he will tell his handlers the fights he wants and feels they will deliver.
“Al Haymon is the man, and so is Lou DiBella. I told them who I want to fight and I make it happen. I fought on NBC my last fight. I don’t know what my rights are with television but I trust Lou DiBella and Al Haymon to get me the big fights no matter what network is on.”