Rafael Rodriguez (boxer)

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This article is about a Minnesotan boxer. For other people of the same name, see Rafael Rodriguez.

Rafael Rodriguez is a retired light middleweight professional boxer from Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Personal life[]

Rafael Rodriguez is a member of Minnesota's illustrious Rodriguez family of boxers: Bobby, , , all of whom fought as professionals; brother John, who fought only as an amateur, and Corey, son of John, who is an active professional boxer at this writing. Rafael is divorced from Barbara Seeker, they have 3 grown children. Elizabeth- 5 grandchildren (Kallie, Cameron, Taylor, Ricky, and Riley), Shannon- 4 grandchildren (Kara, Shon, Justin, and Joshua) Rafael the 2nd- (Rafael the 3rd) and 1 great grandson Payton.

Professional career[]

Rodriguez made his professional debut with a five-round points win against on December 3, 1970. He remained undefeated through four professional fights, losing for the first time to 0-9 Billy Goodwin in a fourth-round knockout on March 8, 1972. Following this unexpected loss Rodriguez remained unbeaten for another three years, winning ten fights and earning one draw. By March 1975 Rodriguez was sporting a record of 14-1-1. His career after this point is difficult to characterize; he remained competitive, mixing wins and losses to the end of his career, but compiling a distinctly mediocre record of 14-20-1 before retiring in 1983 following a loss to Gary Holmgren in a fight for the Minnesota junior middleweight title. After starting his career in such compelling fashion, Rodriguez finally retired with a record of 28-20-2 with 10 wins coming by knockout.[1] However, it must be remembered that many of Rodriguez's later fights were against notably successful boxers, some of whom he surprised by beating them.[2]

When it was all over, Rodriguez had faced a number of notable boxers, including Mike Morgan, Denny Moyer, Hedgemon Lewis, , Angel Robinson Garcia, , Clyde Gray, Bruce Curry, Billy Backus, Pat O'Connor, Pete Ranzany, Sugar Ray Leonard, Dave Green, , , Rocky Mattioli, , , Milton McCrory, and Gary Holmgren.[1]

In 2010 it was announced that Rodriguez would be a member of the inaugural class of inductees to the Minnesota Boxing Hall of Fame.[3]

Notes[]

  1. ^ a b "Rafael Rodriguez". Archived from the original on 2012-10-05. Retrieved 2008-05-11.
  2. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2010-07-17. Retrieved 2010-07-20.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2010-11-02. Retrieved 2010-07-20.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)


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