IBO International Champion Ashley Theophane scores upset victory

By Mr.Polen Globe Sports Writer – MIAMI, Okla. — IBO International Champ Ashley Theophane scored a major decision and upset Delvin Rodriguez in one of two featured matches televised by ESPN2 Friday night at Buffalo Run Casino.

Rodriguez, who came into the fight as the No. 3-ranked welterweight contender by the International Boxing Federation and USBA Champion, came up short in a fight that one judge scored 95-95 and the two other judges scored 96-94 in favor of Theophane..

“We bounced back big,” said Theophane, who is from the United Kingdom and is 27-4-1 with seven knockouts. “My jab was working. I say it’s one of the best in the business.”

Theophane and Rodriguez exchanged jabs in the first two rounds, then Rodriguez connected with an overhand right early in the third round.

Theophane stung Rodriguez with a right hand early in Round 5, and the two had a sharp exchange along the ropes as the round ended. Rodriguez was the aggressor in the sixth round but Theophane eluded several of his punches and connected with the jab before he landed an overhand right.

Theophane sent Rodriguez into the ropes with a combination in Round 8.
Early in the 9th a huge overhand right by Rodriguez hurt Theophane badly. Rodriguez went right at Theophane, looking to close to the show, but Theophane was able to stay out of trouble by tying Rodriguez up and moving around for the remainder of the round.

The 10th and final round saw non-stop action from both warriors. Theophane seemed the fresher of the two whilst Rodriguez dug deep to stay with Theophane’s non stop fast paced action.

The crowd stayed on their feet applauding both fighters, while the judges tallied the scorecards. The first score announced was dead even at 95-95, much to the crowd’s dislike, as seemingly everyone in attendance had Rodriguez as the clear-cut winner, including ESPN commentator Teddy Atlas who scored the fight eight rounds to two for Rodriguez. When the other two scorecards were announced as 96-94 both for Theophane, the crowd went into an uproar of boos. To his credit, Theophane hung tough, and made an exciting fight out of it, but Rodriguez was just much more accurate and landed the much harder punches throughout the entire fight. It was yet another disappointing controversial decision loss for Rodriguez who drops to 25-5-2, 14KO’s. With the win Theophane improves to 27-4-1, 7KO’s.
Theophane was robbed against Danny Garcia so it seems it was his turn for a spot of luck.

“This is probably one of my worst nights,” Rodriguez said. “He was hitting me a lot behind the head, but I couldn’t do anything about that.

“I don’t know what’s next to tell you the truth.”