By Scott Gilfoid: WBA super middleweight champion Andre Ward (26-0, 14 KO’s) has been out of the ring with a shoulder injury for the past year since his dominating 10th round TKO win over Chad Dawson last year in September. Ward has had surgery on his ailing shoulder and he’s fully rehabbed it and ready to go next month against unbeaten #1 WBC, #3 IBF, #3 WBA, #6 WBO, Edwin Rodriguez (24-0, 16 KO’s) on November 16th on HBO at the Citizens Business Bank Arena in Ontario, California.
It’s likely that the other top contenders and champions in the 168 lb. division will be looking closely at this fight to see if they can spot any signs that Ward has slipped a notch from his shoulder injury and time away off from boxing, so in a way it could help Ward’s career if he doesn’t shine like he normally does.
If he can show some signs that he’s not the invincible superman that he’s been in the past few years, he might be able to get the likes of Carl Froch and Mikkel Kessler to agree to fight him again.
Ward looking terrible in victory might be the only way for him to lure Froch and Kessler back into the ring to fight him, because it’s pretty clear that neither of them are in a hurry to get back in there to get another backside whipping.
As far as Rodriguez goes, he’s not ready for this fight even though he’s 28 and been around for a while. He’s not fought the guys that he needed to fight in order to get him ready to face a talent like Ward. Up to this fight, Rodriguez’s best opponents have been Denis Gratchev, Ezequiel Maderna, Don George, Will Rosinsky, Jason Escalera and Aaron Pryor Jr.
That’s pretty weak opposition, and none of those guys are even close to being as good as Ward. We’re talking several levels difference between them, and I don’t know Rodriguez was never stepped up against the top guys in the super middleweight division until now. But I do know that Rodriguez’s lack of experience is going to result in him getting beaten badly in this fight.
All you need to do is watch Rodriguez’s recent win over Gratchev to see how easily Ward will beat him. In that fight, Rodriguez threw some of the most wide punches that you’ll ever see from a professional fighter. I thought I was watching an old time fighter from the 1920s in looking at how wide Rodriguez’s punches were in that fight. He left himself open every time he threw a punch, but Grachev was too basic to take advantage of Rodriguez’s flaws.
Believe me, Ward WILL take advantage of Rodriguez’s terrible offense, and he’s going to block his looping punches each time he throws one and then nail him with straight punches straight down the middle. Ward will likely take the fight to the inside to take advantage of Rodriguez’s lack of inside fighting skills. Rodriguez is good at moving around on the outside, but he can’t punch or fight on the inside with any ability at all.
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