Rodriguez was taken by ambulance to Hahnemann University Hospital, where he was listed in critical condition last night.
"He had too much heart for his own good," one of Teon Kennedy's cornermen said of Rodriguez, a Chicago resident who nearly was stopped in the first round of a scheduled 12-round bout for the vacant USBA super bantamweight championship, but was allowed to fight on because of a questionable ruling made by referee Benjy Esteves.
Esteves, whose work is usually impeccable, appeared to give the twice-staggered Rodriguez a standing eight-count in the final seconds of the opening round. The only problem with that is, according to the unified rules of professional boxing, standing eights were legislated out of existence years ago.
"[Rodriguez] reached for the ropes, touched them and fell forward," Esteves explained. "Technically, it was a knockdown."
Technically, that would be correct if the referee determines that the ropes are preventing a hurt fighter from falling to the canvas. It would then be at the ref's discretion to commence an eight-count. But although Rodriguez did a bunny hop on rubber legs, he never went down, nor did he appear to touch the ropes.
Would Kennedy, with maybe 15 seconds to close the deal, have finished off Rodriguez had not the eight-count been given?
"Definitely," said North Philadelphia's Kennedy (14-0-1, 6 KOs), who first hurt Rodriguez (14-3-1, 8 KOs) with a left hook to the chin before putting him in deeper trouble with a jolting overhand right. "He was ready to go. I'd have stopped him if I hadn't been sent to a neutral corner."
The brief respite appeared to refresh Rodriguez, who came out for the second round and carried the fight to Kennedy with a two-fisted body attack. From that point, the battle was joined. There were numerous spirited exchanges between the two men, who had something of a history: Rodriguez had defeated Kennedy in the amateurs in 2003.
