18.05.08 – Photo gallery by Peter Mark Heintzelman of EastSideBoxing.com: Undefeated professional Edwin Rodriguez of Worcester, Mass., boosted his record to 6-0 with a fourth-round technical knockout win over last-minute replacement Anthony Cannon in a bout scheduled for six rounds Saturday night in Dorchester, Mass..
The 23-year-old Rodriguez, who was making his six-round debut, now has a professional record of 6-0 with five knockouts.
The original opponent in the bout, Luis Hodge, was replaced at the weigh-in Friday when he failed his pre-bout physical.
Rodriguez, 162 1/2, dominated from the opening bell, winning the first three rounds handily. He ended it at 2:07 of the fourth with three left-right combinations to the head of Cannon, 166.
“I was looking forward to going six rounds,” said the 6-foot Rodriguez, a former two-time national amateur champion. “But I can’t complain about the fight ending early, because that means I was doing some things well. And that’s the whole point now: learning, improving and then performing in the fight.”
“Edwin looked good,” said Peter Manfredo Sr., Rodriguez’s trainer. “It was the first time he’s had to face a last-minute replacement, and he came through with flying colors.”
“Cannon turned out to almost if not just as tough a test as Luis Hodge would have been,” said Larry Army Jr., Rodriguez’s manager. “Edwin turned in a professional effort. He stepped it up against Cannon, while some other youngsters might have slacked off when the original opponent fell out. Edwin did the right thing and took care of business, regardless of who was in front of him.”
The 25-year-old Cannon, from Saginaw, Mich., now has a record of 4-9-1 and one knockout.
This was the sixth fight in just 16 weeks for the busy Rodriguez. He was coming off a first-round knockout of Michael Birthmark May 3 in Worley, Idaho; a fourth-round technical knockout of Jeffrey Osborne Jr. April 12 in Boston; a one-sided unanimous decision over veteran James North March 28 in Salamanca, N.Y.; a fourth-round knockout of Fitzgerald Johnson Feb. 8 in Boston; and a first-round knockout of Samuel Ortiz Gomez Jan. 26 in Mansfield, Mass.
Rodriguez plans on keeping active, with another bout scheduled for June 18 in his hometown of Worcester.
Rodriguez won the USA Boxing national championship for 2005 and the Golden Gloves national championship for 2006, both at 165 pounds.
Rodriguez, who has lived in Worcester since arriving in the United States from his native Dominican Republic during 1998, considered competing for a spot on the 2008 U.S. Olympic team, but the premature birth of twins, Edwin Jr. and Serena Lynn, changed his priorities. Stephanie Rapa, Edwin’s fiancee and mother of the twins, is a graduate of Holy Cross with a degree in political science and has been accepted by the Western New England School of Law.
