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I am aware Lou Dibella doesn't feel Edwin "La Bomba" Rodriquez is ready for this fight right now, but wouldn't this be the best time to face Andre Ward? Edwin just won the Monte Carlo Tournament in decent fashion and has been active. If you can't beat the number 2 pound for pound fighter in the world coming off an injury and layoff, when would you ever be able to beat him? Or maybe this isn't a fight that Andre wants coming off of an injury. Someone give me some insight.
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http://bostonherald.com/sports/other...plays_it_smart
Edwin Rodriguez is a realist, as HBO, Andre Ward and the boxing world just learned. Perhaps that comes from his choice of occupations or perhaps from the terrible early struggles of his two children — each prematurely born to the point where few outside of Rodriguez and his wife gave them a chance at life.
Today, both are thriving kids and he’s the No. 1 rated super middleweight in the world. So when he traveled to New York recently to meet with promoter Lou DiBella and HBO Sports president Ken Hershman to discuss his future at the cable network after two big wins at the Monaco Million Dollar super middleweight tournament, yet came away thinking he didn’t have one, Rodriguez didn’t get angry. He got a powerful manager.
Two days after being repeatedly told by Hershman the only slot HBO had for him was a Sept. 28 fight against Ward, for which he knew he wouldn’t be ready, Rodriguez agreed to terms with Al Haymon, arguably the most powerful manager in boxing. That all but ensured Rodriguez would not be back on HBO any time soon because Haymon and his fighters have been quietly put on ice by HBO along with those of Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions. Both promoters took a number of HBO-nurtured fighters to Showtime just as they approached their biggest earning power.
Rodriguez (24-0, 16 KOs) saw one door close and searched for another, believing in the end what really matters is that he can fight.
“I wanted that (Ward) fight because it’s the one that will make me a superstar,” the Worcester fighter said last week. “He’s the biggest name in our division. He’s beaten basically everyone in it except me, but all HBO kept saying was Sept. 28. I just got back from DisneyWorld. I was not going to take a fight against the best guy in the division on five, six weeks notice.
“Why would I half-ass it in the most important fight of my career? I wouldn’t and they didn’t have anything else for me. They didn’t show much interest in me, so it made me realize everyone else was on their own schedule.”
So he signed with Haymon and is now expecting to fight again in mid-October on Showtime, hopeful that will lead to a title shot against the winner of the bout between Sakio Bika and Andre Dirrell, which will likely be scheduled for late October. If that bout happens it won’t be on HBO, but for the moment at least that’s not the most significant thing in Rodriguez’ life, just as he clearly wasn’t the most significant thing in Hershman’s.
“I was really disappointed that it was all about Andre Ward,” Rodriguez said. “They had nothing for me but Sept. 28 regardless of whether that was good for me or not. I wasn’t mad when I left. I’m a pretty easy-going guy. I just had a better understanding of the business side of boxing.”
That includes his reaction to what happened almost immediately after he signed with Haymon, who by the way he has never met.
“Al Haymon has so much power in the boxing business,” Rodriguez said. “He has a good relationship with Showtime. Lou has a good relationship with HBO. I’m willing to work with both of them. I just figured after talking to Ken Hershman I wasn’t a priority at HBO at this time.
“In my mind I want the winner of Bika-Dirrell. I’m the highest rated guy in the WBC (ratings). That magically happened after I started working with Al Haymon.
“I won my last two fights, two big fights, and I went from No. 2 to No. 3. Now I’m No. 1. I don’t know how it happened but it happened and I’m glad it did.”
Something else happened and Al Haymon is glad it did. How HBO feels about it depends on where Edwin Rodriguez goes from here.Last edited by kiaba360; 08-23-2013, 11:08 PM. -
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Thanks for the article man, this explains it all.Comment
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i would like to see it. And **** haymon!Comment
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