By Rey Colon
Top Puerto Rican amateur Emmanuel Rodriguez will make his professional debut on June 1st as part of the undercard to "A Puno Limpio" in Guaynabo. Rodriguez, who turns 20 on August 8, failed to make the national team competing at the London Olympics after a forced retirement of more than a year when he suffered burns on various parts of his body in a confusing incident on November 12, 2010.
He finished second at the 2010 Youth World Amateur Boxing Championships, becoming the second consecutive Puerto Rican to win a medal in the flyweight division. Rodríguez was Puerto Rico's flag-bearer at the inaugural Youth Olympic Games and became the first flyweight champion in the event's history.
