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By Thomas Gerbasi - Let’s get this out of the way right at the start. Hey, Edwin Rodriguez, how does 175 feel?
“It feels awesome,” he laughs, and the fact that it’s fight week and he’s still got the energy and desire to joke around should tell you how much life has changed for “La Bomba” since the last time we saw him against Andre Ward last November.
Back then, Rodriguez said all the right things before his first world title fight, but as the bout drew closer, the whispers became shouts when it came to the reality that the Dominican Republic native wasn’t going to make weight. And when he tells you what he went into the eight-week camp at, that’s no surprise that making 168 pounds was wishful thinking at best.
“I’m just gonna put it as it is – I came into this training camp at 195 while I was trying to make ‘68, I was coming in at 217.”
217 pounds. Not a typo. So in short, Rodriguez’ camp wasn’t about getting ready to fight one of boxing’s best, pound-for-pound, but simply about losing pounds.
“Exactly,” he said. “We didn’t really have time to go over a game plan or anything like that. When it comes down to it, my opponent did everything he needed to do, and I came into camp just to lose weight.”
Talking about it now, he makes no excuses for his inability to make weight (he eventually clocked in at an official 170 pounds, costing him 20 percent of his purse), putting the blame solely on himself. So how did he get up to 217? Well, he had some fun after winning 2013’s Monte Carlo tournament with wins over Ezequiel Maderna and Denis Grachev, going on a vacation with his family where he lived the good life for a bit and got away from the boxing grind. [Click Here To Read More]
“It feels awesome,” he laughs, and the fact that it’s fight week and he’s still got the energy and desire to joke around should tell you how much life has changed for “La Bomba” since the last time we saw him against Andre Ward last November.
Back then, Rodriguez said all the right things before his first world title fight, but as the bout drew closer, the whispers became shouts when it came to the reality that the Dominican Republic native wasn’t going to make weight. And when he tells you what he went into the eight-week camp at, that’s no surprise that making 168 pounds was wishful thinking at best.
“I’m just gonna put it as it is – I came into this training camp at 195 while I was trying to make ‘68, I was coming in at 217.”
217 pounds. Not a typo. So in short, Rodriguez’ camp wasn’t about getting ready to fight one of boxing’s best, pound-for-pound, but simply about losing pounds.
“Exactly,” he said. “We didn’t really have time to go over a game plan or anything like that. When it comes down to it, my opponent did everything he needed to do, and I came into camp just to lose weight.”
Talking about it now, he makes no excuses for his inability to make weight (he eventually clocked in at an official 170 pounds, costing him 20 percent of his purse), putting the blame solely on himself. So how did he get up to 217? Well, he had some fun after winning 2013’s Monte Carlo tournament with wins over Ezequiel Maderna and Denis Grachev, going on a vacation with his family where he lived the good life for a bit and got away from the boxing grind. [Click Here To Read More]
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