WBA super middleweight champion Andre Ward took Edwin Rodriguez to school Saturday night at Citizens Business Bank Arena in Ontario, California?
?You?re boxing a masterpiece.??Virgil Hunter to Andre Ward
Saturday night at Citizens Business Bank Arena in Ontario, California, Andre Ward (27-0, 14 KOs), from Oakland, California, successfully defended his WBA super middleweight title by taking Edwin Rodriguez (24-1, 16 KOs), from Worcester, Massachusetts, to school over 12 one-sided rounds.
It was night when Ward could do nothing wrong, and Rodriguez could do nothing right.
Ward, fighting out of the blue corner in blue trunks, was returning to active duty after 14 months due to an injury. Those who were expecting ring rust, a reasonable expectation under the circumstances, were quickly disabused of that notion. Ward looked as sharp as a stiletto and just as deadly.
Fighting out of the red corner in blue trunks with red and green trim, Rodriguez needed to erase the memory of the pre-fight weigh-in fiasco in order to be taken seriously again. Unfortunately, in light of his performance, complete with roughhouse tactics that would make the unflappable Vince McMahon blush, that impression has not changed.
Ward has dealt with boxers. He has dealt with punchers. Rodriguez and his cornerman, Ronnie Shields, must have studied the tapes. They concluded that Ward, however successful he has been, hadn?t faced any wrestlers in the ring. With that in mind, Rodriguez bolted from his corner at the bell t start the fight. Winging punches and grappling, he was determined to get Ward out of his comfort zone. I?m not sure how successful he was at getting Ward out of his comfort zone, but those of us expecting a boxing match and not some genus of MMA were discomfited by the goings-on.
Ward, by contrast, was composed. His power jab, which grew more powerful as the fight progressed, was precise, and he mixed it with body shots and a dynamic left hook. Rodriguez set the tone, however, which was dissonant, but he did enough to win round one by a hair.
Rounds two and three were all Andre Ward. He was willing to fight fire with fire. If Rodriguez was going to foul, Ward was going to foul him back. But Ward?s skills are so superior to his opponent?s in every category, perhaps even fouling, that it was apparent the fight was going to be a romp. Ward landed 25 of 56 punches after two rounds, and 28 of 45 in the third.
The WWF free-for-all continued in round four. Excessive holding, twisting of arms, using elbows, hitting on the hip and behind the head were more than referee Jack Reiss had bargained for. He had already spent three rounds trying to disentangle the fighters. He was trying his damnedest to keep it clean. But Ward and Rodriguez, engaged in a dangerous game of tit-for-tat, were paying no more attention to the ref than they were paying attention to the rules. When he told them to break he was ignored. When he tried to separate them physically, an errant punch caught him in the face.
Reiss called time. He took control of the fight. He said, ?I got hit. I got intentional fouls,? and deducted two points each from both fighters for ?unsportsmanlike conduct.? He told Ward, ?I?m not going to allow this. You?re instigating a lot of this.? He told Rodriguez, ?I?m not going to put up with this. And you?re hitting me.? Then he leaned over the ring ropes and told the WBA supervisor, ?I?d like to fine both of them. You determine what it is.? The thought of losing money put a chill on the proceedings, at least as far as the fighters were concerned, and the Marquis of Queensberry stopped spinning in his grave.
With the rules being strictly enforced, there was little Rodriguez could do against Ward. Ward would just as soon fight clean as dirty and unleashed his textbook arsenal of punches. Power jabs, lead rights, hooks, uppercuts, two-, three-, and four-punch combinations to the head and body?the professor of pugilism went to work. He took control of the fight and made Rodriguez look like an amateur going up against a pro. Ward took rounds five through 10, landing at will against his hapless opponent. Rodriguez never quit and may have even done enough to win the 11th, but it was a one-sided fight, an ugly and beautiful fight, and corroboration of Ward?s pound-for-pound status.
After 12 rounds of action, the judges scored it 118-106, 117-107, and 116-108. Ward landed 217 total punches to Rodriguez?s 65. He outlanded Rodriguez in the jab department by 86 to 19. He also landed 131 power punches (41%) to La Bomba?s 66.
After the fight Ward said, ?He (Rodriguez) didn?t really come to win. He came to get lucky, like he wants to hold, make it ugly, and hope he catches you with something big. And you gotta learn how to fight those guys. It?s not always going to be a spectacular performance, but a win is a win and I feel like I did great being off 14 months. I?m happy to be back.?
Ward was asked what he thought about Rodriguez?s failure to make weight.
?I feel these things aren?t professional,? he said. ?It?s a championship fight. There?s no way in my first championship fight that I wouldn?t make weight?and didn?t even try to make weight. So I was in here with a bigger man. It kind of is what it is and is behind us, but I use all those little things leading up to the fight, all the talk and all the different things he said. It?s motivation, it?s not personal. I just run that extra mile and spar that extra round when I hear guys talk like that.
?But at the end of the day, boxing is already a tough enough business to not put up with illegal blows. I watched his films and he does that repeatedly inside. I don?t mind an occasional foul if it?s an accident, but the intentional stuff I just can?t put up with. But Jack Reiss did a tremendous job. It?s a fight. You?ve got two men fighting for everything, and he did a tremendous job tonight keeping the action where it needed to be.?
Kudos to referee Jack Reiss. And kudos, of course, to super middleweight champion Andre Ward.
