By Cliff Rold
While no single punch bomber, 29-year old Jr. Welterweight Frankie Figueroa (19-2, 3 KO) laid a Bronx bombing on the game but overwhelmed 23-year old Mexican Luis Rodriguez (22-2, 13 KO), battering his man with an endless stream of punches over twelve rounds at Gotham Hall, in New York City. Rodriguez may not have possessed the skill of the legendary Cuban Welterweight with whom he shares a name, but he certainly showed the guts of a champion.
Both men weighed in below the division limit of 140 lbs., Figueroa at 139 ¼, Rodriguez 138 ¾.
It didn’t take long for the more athletic Figueroa to seize the advantage. At the end a loose first minute, Rodriguez caught Figueroa with a right hand off of a headlock and exhibited little offense from there. Slipping the long jab of the taller Rodriguez, the southpaw Figueroa began to open with lead lefts and strong flurries, keeping his man against the ropes. A grazing left hand and head butt opened a cut over the right eye of Rodriguez in the closing seconds.
The pace slowed in the second and third as Rodriguez began looking for openings to the body and Figueroa dropped his punch output, concentrating on using his jab to open up singular hard shots. The strategy paid off in the waning moments of the third as the New Yorker landed numerous thumping body shots and some nasty, flush left hands.
Rodriguez continued to do his best to fight tall, trying to use his jab, to move, and to work the body in the fourth, but Figueroa’s stalking efforts continued to allow him to land almost at will. Rodriguez bent often at the waist with his hands tucked high over head and torso, attempting to stem the rushes, but found rights and lefts waiting each time he pooped out of his shell.
Resembling a chase scene heading into the fifth, the question was how much longer Rodriguez could take the battering. He showed signs of life with a hard right hook to the head thirty seconds into the frame, but then returned to the defensive posture dictated to him.
Figueroa came out on his toes for the sixth but it was Rodriguez that truly came to life. With little more than a minute to go, Figueroa landed a snapping left that awakened a new level of aggression in Rodriguez. Taking a step back for punching room, Rodriguez launched to the body and followed with some thudding long hooks and crosses upstairs. Not discouraged, Figueroa continued to wade forward and land shots of his own for the most entertaining action of the bout thus far.
The trading continued in the seventh. While still taking the worst of it, Rodriguez made the most of every chance he could find, winging to the body and even using the ropes to push himself forward with a hard hook combination. Figueroa would close the show with two stiff lefts at the bell.
Round eight began badly for Rodriguez as Figueroa started fresh, his shots showing no evidence of lost snap. A brief reprieve early in the round for loose tape did little to provide Rodriguez a second wind. The assertiveness he’d shown in the sixth and seventh devolved largely into protectiveness in the eighth as Figueroa teed off, rocking Rodriguez repeatedly.
In a bout where the outmatched man’s courage was rapidly stealing the narrative, Rodriguez found chances in the ninth. With Figueroa seemingly catching his breath, throwing almost as often but with less force, Rodriguez fired away when he could. The appearance of a hopeless endeavor was bringing no quit from the young Mexican.
The tenth featured more catching, occasional punching, and an increase of clinches from Rodriguez as the opportunity to hear the final bell drew nearer. An exciting exchange broke out briefly in the eleventh, spurred by a Rodriguez body shot, an eaten pair of counters, and then a couple hard hooks in return from Rodriguez before Figueroa’s activity again established control.
The unlikely final bell sounded and the two men shared the ceremonial pat of gloves at mid-ring. A final gutsy exchange, this time initiated by Figueroa with a left hook along the ropes, saw each man trade body shots. Rodriguez could offer little more than that in the closing seconds as the clear victor continued to chase his wounded but resilient foe, landing a final left at the bell.
Figueroa would capture the unanimous decision by scores of 118-110, 117-111 and a surprisingly close 116-112. It was Figueroa’s 11th straight victory going back to 2004.
The televised undercard left much to be desired with two dull affairs featuring undefeated prospects that, while staying that way, did little else to mark themselves as must-see going forward. 23-year old Jr. Welterweight Joel Torres (9-0-1, 5 KO) of Guaynabo, Puerto Rico had to settle for an eight-round draw in a bout he’d appeared to do enough to win against 32-year old Christopher Fernandez (15-4-1, 9 KO) of Salt Lake City, Utah. 25-year old Featherweight Joselito Collado (3-0, 1 KO) of Queens, New York won outright, capturing a unanimous decision through four over Jose Ortiz (1-2, 1 KO).
The card was televised live on ESPN2’s Wednesday Night Fights.
Cliff Rold is a member of the Ring Magazine Ratings Advisory Panel and the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be reached at roldboxing@hotmail.com
