Undefeated Mexican heavyweight prospect David Rodriguez (27-0, 25 KOs) struggled last night in the process of winning a eight-round unanimous decision over journeyman Marcus McGee (19-15, 9 KOs) at the Dickerson’s Event Center, in Las Cruces, New Mexico. The 6’4 242 lb Rodriguez, 30, looked average despite winning seven of eight rounds of the fight. Though he was able to outwork McGee, a trial horse for up and coming fighters, over the course of the bout, Rodriguez looked badly tired after only the 3rd round, and took an abnormal amount of punishment from the light-hitting 36 year-old McGee.
In fact, McGee came close to stopping Rodriguez in the 8th round after connecting with a left-right combination that snapped Rodriguez’s head back, sending him in retreat to the ropes. McGee landed several more bombs, each punch whiplashing Rodriguez’s head back grotesquely. It was a minor miracle that he was able to survive the round because he was ready to go, and if McGee had landed one or two more shots, he would have likely gone down.
The fight wasn’t supposed to be competitive for the 6’4″ Rodriguez, who before this fight, he had knocked out 25 of 26 opponents he faced. However, McGee, sadly, was the best fighter on the 30 year-old Rodriguez’s resume, and he showed that he’s perhaps not ready to step it up against higher C-level fighters like McGee. By midway in the fight, both of Rodriguez’s eyes were blackened, and he was huffing and puffing as if he had fought a full 15 round fight.
In the first three rounds, Rodriguez came out firing away with big right hands and left hooks, trying to take Mcgee out with every shot. McGee, however, looked none too impressed with Rodriguez’s power, as he took the shots well and answered back with sharp jabs and right hands of his own, snapping Rodriguez’s head and catching him cleanly over and over. Rodriguez showed little foot work, as he slowly plodded after McGee, looking like a tank and showing little handspeed.
By the 3rd round, Rodriguez’s left eye had began to swell up and turn a dark blue from McGee’s right hand shots. Still, however, Rodriguez was doing most of the work and winning all of the rounds despite getting hit cleanly by McGee on a frequent basis.
In rounds four through seven, Rodriguez continued to control the action with his slow right hands and left hooks, although both his eyes were now turning purple from McGee’s shots. Rodriguez, still looking exhausted in the 7th, put on a short burst of energy in the last 30 seconds of the round, catching McGee with a 4-5 hard shots.
In the 8th round, Rodriguez started off well, controlling the first two minutes of the round with his big right hand shots and left hooks. However, McGee tagged him with a long left hand, followed immediately by a right, which hurt Rodriguez and caused him to back up to the ropes. McGee followed after him and tagged him with four brutal head shots, each snapping Rodriguez’s head back and badly hurting him. However, McGee was unable to finish Rodriguez, as the round ended before he could connect with anything hard enough to put him down.
The final judges’ scores were 77-75, 77-75 and 79-73, for Rodriguez. It was a disappointing performance for Rodriguez, who proved that he’s not ready to step it up against a higher level class of fighter. His power is still enough to make him a threat against the 1st tier fighters, but his stamina, lack of defense, foot and handspeed would be a major area of concern if he were step it up a class.