By Forin: WBA super middleweight champion Andre Ward (26-0, 14 KO’s) seems to be having a hard time getting Edwin Rodriguez (24-0, 16 KO’s) to agree to fight him on HBO. Rodriguez is reportedly demanding in excess of $ 1 million to take the fight which Ward says is not going to happen. Since everyone is entitled to price themselves the way they see fit, I am not going to comment on the financial side of this proposed match up.
What I do want to say is that this fight would definitely be more than a “total mismatch” as one particular writer likes to call it. HBO is really pushing for this fight to happen and trust me, HBO are not stupid, they like this fight for a reason.
When you think about it, Lucian Bute struggled for 12 rounds in winning a controversial decision over Denis Grachev, while Rodriguez destroyed Grachev in round 1 of their July fight in Monte Carlo. I have rarely been given the opportunity to see such a concussive beating as the one Grachev received in that fight because at times it looked like Grachev was in real danger of sustaining permanent brain damage. Edwin certainly did not look “amateurish” in that fight.
The reason for Edwin’s apparent wide shots is that at 76″ he has got, at least to my knowledge, the longest reach amongst the top fighters in the SM division. I mean we are talking here cruiserweight reach already. (for instance David Haye stands at 78″). Just to put things into perspective Andre Ward is 71″ in reach, that is a huge difference in itself.
If you combine Edwin’s reach, athleticism, decent skill and good punching power you can make the case that if he fights smartly, there is a good chance he would be a tough opponent for Ward and I can see him doing way better than Chad Dawson.
This is what I think HBO is seeing and I can only hope this fight will happen, it will definitely be good value!
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