By Jake Donovan
Jonathan Vidal hopes the third time's a charm for his next fight. The squat Boricua moves up in weight but hopes for a new result as he heads back to the A La Cartr Pavilion in Tampa, FL for a scheduled 10-round bout with Ricardo Rodriguez.
The bantamweight fight headlines this Friday on Boxeo Telemundo.
Vidal has dropped three of his last four, including two appearances at the A La Carte Pavilion in 2014. Friday's bout will mark his fourth straight on Telemundo.
Sandwiched in between the losses was an 8th round knockout of Juan Kantun last July. Vidal (18-3, 10KOs) picked the perfect time to shine; the bout and the card which it headlined the highest rated telecast in the 26-year history of Boxeo Telemundo, also outpacing every boxing event on basic and regional cable—including ESPN2 Friday Night Fights—that weekend.
Vidal was an integral part of the success enjoyed overall by Telemundo in 2014, its ratings at its highest point. The win over Kantun helped launch the summer season for the network, and also kicked off the super flyweight tournament. His finals appearance wasn't as fruitful, suffering a 4th round knockout at the hands of Daniel Lozano in this very venue last October.
The latter bout played to a Standing Room Only crowd, with more of the same expected this weekend.
"Fans love Jonathan, win or lose, because he always comes to fight," points out promoter Felix 'Tuto' Zabala, Jr. "He's never in a bad fight, and has another tough one on his hands this weekend."
Rodriguez (10-2, 3KOs) is coming off of an upset with over Edwin Rodriguez (no relation) last October in the Boxeo Telemundo season finale. His previous bout also aired on the network, dropping a 10-round decision to David Carmona last summer.
Jonathan “Pitbull” Vidal Vs. Ricardo “Meserito” Rodriquez
Sergey Lipinets Vs. Cosme “Chino” River - 10 Rounds Jr Welterweights
Alphonso Black Vs Daniel Rosario - 6 Rounds Welterweights
Noemi Bosques Vs Nydia Feliciano - 6 Rounds Bantamweights
Radivoje Kalajdzic Vs. Larry Pryor - 6 Rounds Light Heavyweights
Ricky Tomlinson Vs. Alex Adorno - 4 Rounds Jr. Featherweights
Omar Albañil Vs. Patrick Thomas - 4 Rounds Jr Middleweights
Inka Laley vs. Eric Piñero - 4 Rounds Jr. Middleweight
Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox
