Andre Ward vs. Edwin Rodriguez
After nearly fourteen months away from the ring due to injury, Andre Ward will finally make his return. This Saturday night Ward will face off against the undefeated Edwin Rodriguez in a 12 round bout in the super middleweight division. Ward originally wanted to take an easier fight after such a long layoff but HBO had no interest and all but insisted that Ward fight the talented yet somewhat unknown Rodriguez.
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| Will Ward have any ring rust? |
Ward is an ultra talented boxer who is the number two ranked pound for pound fighter in the world but hasn't yet garnered a large fan base. In that respect Ward is very similar to Timothy Bradley. Neither fighter has a tremendous amount of power and they aren't always exciting to watch which may be the reason more fans haven't jumped on the band wagon. However like Bradley, Ward always seems to win. Now after such a long layoff due to surgery on his right shoulder, Ward will look to keep his unbeaten streak intact.
Ward has a perfect career record of 26-0 with 14 knockouts and claims he hasn't lost any fight since he was 12 years old. His style isn't easy to describe, he isn't a slick defensive fighter like Floyd Mayweather and he isn't a power puncher either. It doesn't seem that Ward does anything at an exceptional level yet he always comes out victorious. One thing that has made Ward so effective is his elite timing and unusually high boxing IQ. Because he doesn't have heavy hands he relies on his perfect timing to dispatch his opponents. In a way Ward fights like a more athletic Bernard Hopkins. He likes to make fights sloppy with smart clinches and land punches while he is doing so. Ward hasn't fought in fourteen months because of his injury but it can be said he hasn't really been tested since he fought Carl Froch in December of 2011. That is because in Ward's last fight in September of 2012 he fought a severely weight drained Chad Dawson who wasn't anywhere near his best. So while Rodriguez may not have big time name recognition he could be very dangerous for a fighter coming off such a long layoff.
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| Rodriguez is coming off a 1st round TKO win |
Rodriguez may not be a top ten pound for pound talent but that doesn't mean he can't pull of the upset. One thing working in Rodriguez's favor is his very long reach. His reach is six inches longer than Ward's and he will need to use every inch of it to keep Ward from getting in close and making this a sloppy fight. Rodriguez is promoted by Lou DiBella who has brought him along slowly but intelligently, having him take small steps up in competition to build his record and confidence.
Rodriguez, like Ward has been perfect as a professional. His record thus far is 24-0 with 16 knockouts but each time he enters the ring he looks more impressive. In his last fight he completely dominated Denis Grachev, scoring a 1st round TKO and impressed a lot of people with his tenacity. While Rodriguez isn't elite defensively and can get touched up from time to time, he never seems to take a tremendous amount of punishment. However against a top talent like Ward, Rodriguez will need to stay focused on his defense, especially when throwing punches of his own. One thing that helps Rodriguez even though his defense isn't great, his chin is and that chin allows him to stand up to punches other fighters might not be able to. Rodriguez does have a bad habit of throwing long, looping punches from to far away from his opponent and Ward will definitely capitalize on that if he continues to do it during this fight. Yet having fought twice already in 2013 with his last fight coming just four months ago, Rodriguez should be extremely sharp.
On paper Ward should win this fight. His list of opponents is unreal having been in the ring with fighters such as Dawson, Froch, Mikkel Kessler, Arthur Abraham, and others. On the other hand Rodriguez hasn't fought anyone near the talent level of Ward and this will not only be the biggest fight of his career but also his toughest test to date. If Ward is a little rusty from his layoff and Rodriguez can keep the fight on the outside with his long reach he may be able to pull of the upset. However if Rodriguez wants to beat Ward he will need to be perfect and not make any mistake defensively. The same can't be said for Ward who should be able to handle Rodriguez even if he isn't perfect.
PREDICTION: Edwin Rodriguez is a good fighter and has a very good chance to pull off the upset. Yet it is just to hard to pick against a fighter with the talent of Andre Ward. I expect Rodriguez to give Ward all he can handle but Ward will pull out the victory with a split decision.
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