Rodriguez throws so wide and is a bit slow. It's going to be so easy for Ward to get inside and punish the hell out of him. This should be an easy fight for Ward.
Max Kellerman says Rodriguez is the best 168lber Ward hasn't already fought. That is probably true, although Stieglitz and Groves are right behind him. Then behind them are Bika, Oosthuizen, DeGale, Periban and Gonzales. If Ward beats all of those guys (and he would be heavily favored over all) there would literally be nobody left in the division even remotely creditable.
I could've sworn it was going to be a doubleheader with Gonzales vs. Nelson, but apparently not. :conf
No point in even fighting them easy wins for Ward. Ward should challenge himself and move up after this fight or maybe after Froch rematch.
Edwin's only chance is come out fast and test Ward's ring rust. Test his shoulder. He's got a size advantage and he should use it. Maybe he can land a haymaker that can surprise Ward. Other than that, he'll lose pretty badly.
Brandon Gonzales beat Jonathan Nelson by wide UD in the co-feature, per Twitter reports. Scores were 99-91x2 and 98-92 and deserved in a match with plenty of action and wherein Nelson was game but Gonzales proved a class above. Strangely, that match (per timestamps on said Tweets) finished up around 8:50pm EST...more than 70 minutes before the HBO broadcast started. That means the fans in Citizens Bank Arena have been sitting there twiddling their thumbs for an hour and a half. :blood Unless they had a swing bout or two saved up.