It's Showtime for Rodriguez

April 30th, 2010

Super middleweight prospect Edwin Rodriguez (14-0, 10 KO’s) makes his second national TV appearance Friday night on Showtime “Shobox” card from Chicago against St. Louis journeyman Kevin Engel (17-2, 14 KO’s).

Try as he might, it’s unlikely this fight will go quicker or easier than his entry onto the national TV spotlight last month when he knocked out the durable George Armenta in 47 seconds with a devastating left hook to the body. Prior to that bout, Armenta had never been stopped before including fights junior middleweight titleholder Yuri Forman and contender Sechew Powell.

“I really thought he was going to give me more rounds”, Rodriguez told 8countnews.com recently, “I knew I was going to knock him out, I just didn’t know it was going to be that early”.

Putting as much leverage in body shots was something that Rodriguez and his team worked on in the week leading up to the fight and in the dressing room just moments before the bout according to his trainer Peter Manfredo Sr.

Against Engel this Friday, Rodriguez feels that his opponents straight ahead style will suit him just fine.

His game plan?

“Working off my jab, staying away from (his) right hand, working the body and getting him out of there. Probably by the fourth or fifth.” Rodriguez said in a matter of fact fashion.

Ultimately, Rodriguez and his team, trainer Manfredo Sr., manager Larry Army and promoter Lou Dibella hope to transition him from being a prospect to a contender to a champion.

Rodriguez doesn’t necessarily want it the easy way either as he openly hopes for opposition to help bring out the best in each other the way Sugar Ray Leonard, Marvelous Marvin Hagler, Tommy Hearns and Roberto Duran did in the 80’s. He mentions fellow prospects like Danny Jacobs and Fernando Guerrero as those potential foes.

But first things first, Rodriguez hopes to catch the eye of fight fans once again Friday night on Showtime. Maybe this time he’ll have more than 47 seconds to showcase his skills.