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05/19/2008 Archived Entry: "Edwin Rodriguez Stops Anthony Cannon in Four"
Edwin Rodriguez Stops Anthony Cannon in Four
By Pavel Yakovlev at ringside
Ringside photos by Joe Gallo
DORCHESTER, MA - Middleweight Edwin Rodriguez of Worcester, MA won a fourth round TKO over Atlanta nativeAnthony Cannon Saturday night at the Freeport Hall in Dorchester, Massachusetts. Cannon was absorbing heavy punishment on the ropes when his cornermen stepped onto the ring apron to halt the bout. The ending came at 1:07 of the round.
In the moments before the bout was stopped, Cannon attempted to weather Rodriguez's offensive by covering up effectively with his back to the ropes. Rodriguez however brought Cannon's guard down by landing a brutal right hand to the liver, which was followed by several hard left hooks and right crosses to the head. Cannon, who was on rubbery legs at this point, half turned away from Rodriguez to escape punishment just before being rescued by his corner.
For most of the match, Cannon assumed a defensive posture against the ropes, keeping his arms and gloves glued to the front of his body. It was clear that Cannon was attempting to lure Rodriguez onto the offensive by using "rope a dope" tactics made famous by Muhammad Ali in his 1974 fight against George Foreman in Zaire.
Rodriguez, in turn, pounded Cannon relentlessly with left hooks and right hands to the head and body. Throughout the fight, the auditorium was filled with the loud, thudding, percussive sound of Rodriguez's punches landing on their target. Although many of Rodriguez's punches were picked off by Cannon's arms and gloves, he did score consistently enough that in every round it seemed the bout might be over at any instant.
As a result of tonight's victory, Rodriguez improved to 6-0 with five knockouts. He weighed 164 lbs. Cannon, 166 1/2 lbs., falls to 4-9 with one knockout.
Rodriguez gave his opponent credit after the fight. "He's a tough kid," stated Rodriguez. "I could tell he was being tricky, laying back and luring me in. But I didn't get frustrated. I used a body attack to bring his hands down...my right to the body opened him up."
In an undercard fight between featherweights, Robert DaLuz, 126 3/4 lbs., scored a six round split decision over Castullo Gonzalez, 124 1/2 lbs. Throughout the fight Gonzalez pressured DaLuz relentlessly, taking away DuLaz's punching room and frequently bulling him into the ropes. Once inside, however, Gonzalez was not able to work effectively, and as a result, much of the match devolved into mauling, wrestling and clinching. DaLuz constantly attempted to find the punching room necessary to get his combinations off, but too often he was smothered by Gonzalez's crowding tactics.
DaLuz, of Providence, Rhode Island, definitely landed with the cleaner, more consistent and more effective punches of the match. Unable to keep Gonzalez from getting inside, DaLuz compensated by quickly getting his punches off in the seconds before Gonzalez was close enough to deprive him of punching room.
Two judges favored DaLuz by scores of 59-55 each. The third judge favored Gonzalez, 58-56. This writer scored the match 60-55 in favor of DaLuz.
DaLuz's record is now 11-11-2 with nine wins by knockout. Gonzalez falls to 9-6 with three knockouts. Gonzalez is from Lynn, Massachusetts.
In a four round middleweight bout, Mark "The Italian Bazooka" DeLuca won a unanimous decision over Anthony Osbourne. This match was very nearly over in the first round when DeLuca, 163 lbs., staggered Osbourne with a hard left cross and then pounded him ferociously in a corner for the rest of the round. DeLuca threw over 60 consecutive unanswered punches in this round as Osbourne desperately covered up on the ropes, bobbing and weaving to survive. 
The pattern in the second, third, and fourth rounds was much different, however, as DeLuca and Osbourne boxed cautiously from long range. In each of these rounds DeLuca's faster hands, slick feinting and tricky head movement enabled him to maintain the upper hand. DeLuca appeared to have scored a knockdown seconds before the final bell when Osbourne fell after taking a sharp left cross. The fall however was ruled a slip by the referee.
DeLuca, of Whitman, Massachusetts, is now 5-0 with three knockouts. Osbourne, of New York City, falls to 7-27-1, two knockouts. Both fighters weighed 163 lbs, and both are southpaws.
An interesting sidenote to this bout is that DeLuca is of Sicilian heritage. He speaks Sicilian and he entered the bout to Sicilian folk music. Boston, historically, is a city with a rich tradition of Italian middleweights, most of whom were natives of the North End and East Boston. The last well known local Italian middleweights this writer knows of were Mark Mainero, the popular club fighter of the 1980s, and Vinnie Curto, who attained a world-wide top 10 rating in the 1970s. DeLuca, who is 20 years old, may bring a welcome Italian ethnic presence to local boxing cards for the first time in two decades.
In other matches, Jesus Caro (1-0, one knockout) scored a first round TKO over Levaniel King (0-2) in a battle of junior welterweights. Caro, of Providence, Rhode Island, weighed 141 1/2 lbs. King, of Reidsville, North Carolina, weighed 136 1/2 lbs. In a four round heavyweight match, Tyler Hinkey, 245 1/2 lbs., won a unanimous decision over Mike Miller. Hinkey is now 3-0-1, with two knockouts, and he is from Reno, Nevada. Miller, from Cleveland, Ohio, falls to 3-11-2 with three knockouts. At featherweight, Jose Sanchez, 123 lbs., won a unanimous four round decision over Harvey Phillips, 119 lbs. Sanchez is now 3-0 with one knockouts, and he hails from Providence, Rhode Island. Phillips, from Cleveland, Ohio, is now 0-5.
Saturday's boxing card attracted several hundred local fans and was promoted by Peter Manfredo Sr. in conjuction with Let's Get It On Promotions
