23.03.09 – By Trish Kilcullen – Photos by Peter Mark Heintzelman – Boxing returned to Worcester, Massachusetts’ Mechanics Hall, after a hiatus since 1967, and came back in style, as the undefeated Edwin “La Bomba” Rodriguez, made a statement in his home town debut, with a resounding second round technical knockout of veteran Patrick Thompson. Before a packed and partisan Worcester crowd, Rodriguez, improved his perfect record to 10-0-0, 7 KO’s, in his debut under the banner of his new promoter, Lou DiBella, of DiBella Entertainment, of New York.
Despite the brevity of the fight, Rodriguez took control from the very beginning with aggressive ring generalship, landing his patented La Bomba‘s to the body and head of his opponent, which ganged up to cause the stoppage at 2:11 seconds of the second stanza..
Promoter DiBella, trainer Manfredo, Cutman Tenney, and manager, Larry Army jumped into the ring when the ref waived off the fight. DiBella commented “He’s something special.” “Thanks, Lou, for bringing boxing back to Worcester,” to which he replied, “I’ll be back!” Manfredo commented, “How about that – didn’t he look sharp!”
Edwin’s opponent, Patrick Thompson, 15-14-1, 5 KO’s, dissed the loss, stating after the fight, “I’m no dummy, I had to come up in weight for this fight,” suggesting he was more interested in the purse than the outcome, and that the promoter was more interested in racking up a win for his new talent, than he was in having a competitive bout. Thompson, has logged thirty professional fights, including fights that went the distance with notables such as present IBF mandatory middleweight title challenger Giovanni Lorenzo, John Duddy, Joe Greene, Vanes Martirosyan, Sechew Powell, and Ishe Smith.
Thompson had been stopped only once, 5-½ years ago, by Alfonso Gomez. Now Rodriguez makes that twice; no wonder Thompson was in denial.
DiBella rewarded Edwin Rodriguez with the announcement that he would fight next on April 25, 2009, at the MGM Grand Theater at Foxwoods, on the undercard of the WBC Super Middleweight Title bout between current undefeated champion, Carl “The Cobra” Froch, of England, and former middleweight champ and now challenger, Jermain “Bad Intentions” Taylor, of Arkansas. Rodriguez’ fans would be wise to get these tickets fast, as tickets are going fast for this fight night which is drawing international interest and causing Brits to voyage to New England to fill the stands. Rodriguez’ opponent is yet to be announced.