David Rodriguez KO’s Owen Beck with Booming Thundering Left Hooks

rodriguez-beck June 24th, 2011 was Friday Fight Night at the Don Haskins Center. The featured bout was David Rodriguez Versus Owen Beck for the FeComBox Heavyweight Championship. The promotion entailed too much waste of time.

Whew, finally a bout. Oh oh, that Okie kid, Yon Harvison, couldn't even bend his knees to avoid head shots. He didn't even know how to bob and weave, take off the jab or slip punches to counter. He looked good with his hands excepting the cold hard fact that a boxer needs to be balanced to execute their wares. He was quickly knocked out...as expected.

The Mark Villa fight was strange. Villa landed the better heavy punches but he was swarmed by his opponent from the beginning and I would bet money that Villa received three punches for every one he landed. The decision for an unfit and tiring Villa was met with boo's from the crowd. Looked like a draw at best for Villa.

As for Rodriguez, he wasn't loose at first and received some heavy blows, one a huge uppercut to his chin. The good news: he took the shots well and went to the body early to set up the 3rd round KO by hooks to the chin. Give Rodriguez credit, Beck, fit for a change but having that bad eye, has never been knocked out so viciously. Perhaps now we will see a match between Arreola and Rodriguez. That bout would be a huge seller for Vegas or Los Angeles. With TV rights around the world, I could see both boxers earning a million if the deal is made and made soon. Age is a factor, especially for Rodriguez.

One for the road about the Rodriguez critics: El Paso’s most admired past heavyweight was Adolfo Quijano. He had some memorable great fights, granted. What about some of his foes capabilities? How about Johnny cooper 0-3? Cooper again, 0-4? Fred Massey 2-2? Sebastain Gonzalez 22-20-4? Eddie Wiliams 0-1-0? Black Jack Louis 1-2-1? Pancho Medrano 3-8-3? Amado Rodriguez 12-19-1? Darby Dan 2-3-1 (He beat Dolph)? Speedy Williams 4-4-1? Deacon Logan 29-15-3? Dolph lost and then beat Logan in a rematch. He then fought the best bout of his career, losing a 1946 decision to former world champion, Joey Maxim. That led to his great victory over Jimmy Webb 54-17-4 for the Texas State Light Heavyweight title. Dolph won the Texas State Heavy Title over a good Bobby Sikes in 1948 after being KO'd in the 2nd round by Bob Foxworth earlier in 1947.

Dolph defended the Texas title over Whitey Berlier 5-7-2 and Jimmy Curl 44-14-1 and moved up in class and was knocked out by Bob Flanagan in the 2nd and Tko'd by Gino Buonvino in the 2nd. He rebounded with wins over Buddy Scott 114-29-6 and Jack Huber 19-14-6. In Oct. 1950 in L.A. he was awful as Irish Bob Murphy KO'd him in the first round. He tuned up in El Paso again with Carl Schobe and then Charles Henry 17-44-2. Back to the big boys: Watson Jones KO'd him in 10. He then lost to a very talented boxer, Freddy Milton. He didn’t wish to end his career that ugly loss and arranged a rematch.
In one of his greater moments of a checkered career, Dolph rose to the occasion and thoroughly beat the favorite to end his career on a high note.

One more thing for critics, including me, before gunning down a gunner with a verbal attack, may I suggest to you that it takes 'balls' to get in the ring - win or lose. Teddy Roosevelt said it best when it came to toughness.

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes up short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those timid souls who know neither victory or defeat."

Go for the gusto critical folks. Have you ever sparred David or anyone in his camp? Any boxer at Louie Burke’s in Las Cruces, New Mexico? How about mixing it up at Pound for Pound, Carolina, or San Juan Gyms in El Paso, Texas? Come on, how about getting down with the amateurs? Have you or will you ever win a Texas State Professional Championship? Perhaps you have won a New Mexico State championship, or California, yes or no? How about an amateur Championship anywhere? An NABA Title? A FeComBox Championship title? I doubt it but praise to you if you have. Just don't forget, David Rodriguez has won all of those titles and for the record, no other El Paso boxing Heavyweight has come close. And please don’t forget, it was Ross Puritty, a former Miner football player, who knocked out Viatli Klitscho in Germany a few years ago. Rest assured, David can punch as hard or better then Ross and David can unleash combinations of fury and storm like Ross. It is a mater of timing, conditioning, experience, age, fortune, and a pinch of luck. My concern is that David is coming up on age thirty four. The only fighter from El Paso, Texas, who could train like a youngster in his latter years, his forties mind you, was Cliff ‘Magic’ Thomas. I know that for a fact because I was there with him when he came out of retirement at age forty five and destroyed Michael Corleone, the Godfather for his seventh world title.

Now have a happy

Thomas W. McKay
www.convictedartist.com

photos by Robert Vaboomstudios Tibuni