Edwin Rodriguez Stops Thompson: La Bomba Has Landed

by David P. Greisman

 

WORCESTER, Mass. – La Bomba has landed. In front of his hometown crowd. In his 10th pro fight. In his first bout since signing on with a major promoter.

 

One right hand sent Patrick Thompson to the mat with a loud crash. Thompson had 13 losses on his ledger, but he had only been knocked out once. That was more than five years ago. Since then, John Duddy, Sechew Powell, Ishe Smith and Matt Vanda had, like many others, failed to do what Rodriguez did Thursday night.

 

Rodriguez only needed a little bit more than five minutes.

 

Rodriguez had been looking for the right hand throughout the brief fight. He came out composed, working behind his jab, waiting for openings. One counter shot landed with notable impact in the first round. Another one brought out an audible reaction from the crowd, bringing them to their feet.

 

That punch energized the Mechanics Hall ballroom in this central Massachusetts city, a venue that hadn’t hosted boxing in 42 years. Lou DiBella, a promoter based in New York City, signed Rodriguez last month to a three-year contract, making the 23-year-old super-middleweight prospect the centerpiece of an expansion into New England. At the time, DiBella called Rodriguez “a grade-A prospect” who “can fight his ass off.”

 

Rodriguez took those words and put them into action.

 

Though Thompson rose from the knockdown, Rodriguez swarmed in, landing hard shot after hard shot until Thompson’s corner threw in the towel. The end came 2 minutes and 11 seconds into the second round.

 

Rodriguez improves to 10-0 with 7 knockout victories. DiBella told reporters that he will put Rodriguez on the undercard of next month’s super-middleweight title fight between Carl Froch and Jermain Taylor at the Foxwoods Resort Casino in Mashantucket, Conn.

 

Thompson, of Lincoln, Neb., falls to 15-14-1.

 

Rodriguez has power. He has skills. He has fans. He has the potential to contend, and to make some money doing so.

 

La Bomba has landed. Soon he may soar.

 

In other action Thursday:

 

- Dustin Reinhold spent nine years in prison, punishment for killing a man. He was an accomplished amateur who landed a punch somewhere a boxer’s shots shouldn’t fly – in a bar fight. The man Reinhold had hit fell, his head crashing against the ground.

 

Out from behind bars, Reinhold entered the pro ranks Thursday night, scoring an exciting technical-knockout victory over fellow junior middleweight Valdrin Muriqi in an undercard thriller.

 

Muriqi used his height to take the first round, keeping the smaller Reinhold at bay with long jabs and his one-two combination of choice, a left hook around Reinhold’s high guard followed by a right cross.

 

Reinhold closed the distance in round two, connecting with flush right hands and left hooks. Muriqi was in trouble before the bell. He remained in trouble for the rest of the fight.

 

Muriqi’s left hand was at his waist. Reinhold got into gear with compact left hooks and straight rights, some lifting Muriqi’s feet off the ground, none depositing him on the canvas.

 

A ringside physician checked on Muriqi before sending him out for the fourth and final round. The bout didn’t last much longer. Reinhold kept landing cleanly, and the referee stepped in out of proper mercy 42 seconds in.

 

Reinhold, of Providence, is now 1-0. Muriqi, of New York City boxer, was also making his pro debut and thus falls to 0-1.

 

- A swing bout between super middleweights Philip Jackson Benson and Dameon Marshall started as a quiet affair, with the crowd catching its breath and hitting the bathrooms following the battle between Reinhold and Muriqi. But Benson pulled away in the second round, getting the crowd’s attention with a second-round stoppage victory.

 

Benson scored a knockdown about a minute into the second round, wailing away at a Marshall who, while ducking, left himself vulnerable to shots that sent him falling backward, supported only by the ropes. The referee was out of position, and Benson got several more punches in before the third man in the ring did his job, running forward, stepping in and starting his count. Marshall never truly recovered, though, and the bout came to an end just after the round’s halfway point.

 

Benson, of Queens, N.Y., improves to 3-0 with 3 knockout wins. Marshall, of Richmond, Va., falls to 0-2.

 

- Ryan Kielczewski, the self-ordained “Polish Prince,” gave Aaron Chavez a royal beating that ended with a beautiful one-punch win.

 

Kielczewski looked flashy through much of the bout’s three rounds, ducking and weaving away from Chavez’s shots and landing crisp punches with seeming ease. He was simply too fast for Chavez, who never saw the right uppercut that put him on the mat.

 

Chavez beat the count, but he was on unsteady legs, out on his feet. The referee wisely waved things off with 16 seconds remaining in the round.

 

Kielczewski, a junior lightweight from Quincy, Mass., is now 4-0, with this being his first win coming within the distance. Chavez, of Vero Beach, Fla., drops to 2-2.

 

- The first time Huston Crayton’s cornermen tried to throw in the towel, it got stuck on the ropes, much like their fighter was. They pulled the towel down, and 30 seconds later the signature white fabric went flying into the ring again. Huston had a problem with the decision. His opponent didn’t, of course. Valar Biosse had just earned himself a win in his professional debut.

 

The stoppage came one minute and 17 seconds into the second round, with Biosse continuing what he’d done in the preceding stanza – hitting Crayton without abandon, overwhelming him with hooks and uppercuts.

 

Biosse, a light heavyweight from Providence, R.I., is now 1-0. Crayton, who hails out of Brockton, Mass., drops to 0-4.

 

- And in the show’s opener, Stephen “The Irish Tornado” Ormond tore through Jonathan Ocasio, tearing into his winless opponent’s body for three minutes and following up occasionally with hard shots upstairs. Ormond’s pressure and dedicated body attack sapped Ocasio of any desire to see a second round; Ocasio remained on his stool.

 

Ormond, a lightweight fighting out of Long Island, N.Y., improves to 3-0. This was his first knockout victory. Ocasio will return to Philadelphia with an 0-4 record.