Boxing, Baseball & Blessings

Emmanuel Rodriguez’s parents placed him in just about every sport during his youth in Puerto Rico, including soccer and the country’s flagship sport, baseball.

But it was clear that “Manny” excelled in boxing, where he earned the gold in the inaugural Youth Olympic games in August 2010, becoming the first Puerto Rican fighter to be flyweight champion in the event's history.

Rodriguez also won the silver in the September 2010 Youth World Amateur Championships, missing the 2012 London Olympics following a loss in the semifinals of the Olympic qualifying tournament.

Two months later, Rodriguez was diverted when a teenage prank went horribly wrong: While he and a friend attempted to light a car on fire after dousing it with gasoline, Rodriguez—unaware that he had spilled some of the fuel on himself—accidentally ignited himself. He was rushed to the hospital with second-degree, head-to-toe burns on two-thirds of his body.

“I was young. I made a mistake in trying to damage the car as a joke. Nobody was in the car, [but] it was a life-threatening, career-threatening accident. I suffered second degree burns on 66 percent of my body,” said Rodriguez.

“My life was in danger and my boxing career, too. But that was more motivation. My hands were so burnt that I could not move them as I prefer to. To this day, I remember everything that happened, and it was a big lesson for me that made me stronger. I feel blessed.”

Remarkably, less than two months after the incident, Rodriguez started training a couple of days a week—mostly shadowboxing and light pad work—while still in the burn unit and partially bandaged. However, it would be more than 10 months before he would fight again.

Rodriguez eventually put himself back in position for a shot at the London Games, but his bid ended with a loss in the semifinals of the Olympic qualifying tournament.

Power In The Pros

Rodriguez turned his attention to launching his professional career, doing so in June 2012, and it’s been nothing short of a resounding success: Not only did the 118-pound prospect win his first 14 fights, but he knocked out 11 opponents.

Rodriguez scored first-, second- and fourth-round knockouts in June, July and August 2012, and went 5-0 (2 KOs) in 2013. In December 2013, Rodriguez scored a unanimous decision over former title challenger and countryman David Quijano, who entered with a record of 15-3-1 (9 KOs).

“The Baby-Faced Assassin” then followed an eight-round unanimous decision over Felix Perez in April 2014 with that October’s first-round knockout of Miguel Cartagena, who entered at 13-1 (5 KOs).

“Manny” halted all four opponents in 2015, including a third-round knockout in May 2015 over former title challenger Luis Hinojosa, and November’s seventh-round TKO of Eliezer Aquino, his fifth straight stoppage victim having entered at 17-1-1 (11 KOs) before being knocked out for the first time in his career.

Cartagena, Hinojosa and Aquino entered the ring with a combined record of 57-10-1.

Alberto Guevera lasted the 10-round distance with Rodriguez during his near-shutout unanimous decision and his lone fight of 2016.

In 2017, Rodriguez scored first- and fourth-round knockouts of Robinson Lavinanza (March) and Giovanni Delgado (August), and was a prohibitive underdog entering his IBF bantamweight title bout in May 2018 against Britain’s Paul Butler at the O2 Arena in London. Rodriguez dropped Butler twice and nearly stopped him in the first round of a near shutout unanimous decision for the 118-pound title.

“I didn’t fear Paul Butler or the crowd because I was so motivated to get that victory. It was in the back of my mind that Butler was bigger than me, weight-wise, but it didn’t matter because I was extremely focused for that fight,” said Rodriguez.

“After I dropped him with that left hook in the first round, I tried to finish him off because I knew that he was in bad shape. But even though I didn’t get the knockout, I dominated that fight so much that, in my opinion, I didn’t even lose one round.”

Rodrigues won by scores of 118-108, and 120-106 and 120-106, meaning he lost a combined two rounds to Butler. Rodriguez improved to 18-0 (12 KOs) following his first defense, a split-decision in October 2018 over Jason Moloney, who entered at 17-0 (14 KOs).

Two Losses And A No-Contest

Rodriguez's next three bouts were a three-knockdown second-round stoppage loss to three-division champion Naoya Inoue (May 2019), a disputed split-decision loss to unbeaten Reymart Gaballo (December 2020), and a no-contest against undefeated southpaw Gary Antonio Russell in August.

Inoue improved to 18-0 (16 KOs), dethroning Rodriguez with his eighth straight stoppage win. Gaballo rose to 24-0 (20 KOs), failing to earn his fifth straight knockout albeit winning the WBC’s interim bantamweight title.

Rodriguez was unable to continue after his WBA title eliminator bout with Russell (18-0, 12 KOs) ended in 16 seconds, this, following an accidental clash of heads that left the bridge of the nose busted and bloodied.

"When the head-butt happened, it hurt so much. Maybe if there was no blood, we could have continued. But when I saw the blood, I knew it was over. All I can say is that it was a tremendous head butt," said Rodriguez.

"I'm a little frustrated that the fight ended so quickly after training so hard and to have nothing happen. As soon as the injury is fixed, I'll be back and ready to fight. I would like to fight Russell again."

Back And Better Than Ever

Rodriguez returned to the ring in March 2022 with a first-round KO over Robert Sanchez Cantu. The win set up a rematch against Antonio Russell on October 15, 2022, at Brooklyn, New York's Barclays Center in the opening bout of a FOX Sports PBC Pay-Per-View. 

Rodriguez controlled the bout from start to finish, dropping Russell in the eighth and winning a technical decision when another clash of heads, this time in round nine, caused the bout to be stopped and go to the cards in the tenth. He won by scores of 100-90, 99-91 and 97-93. 

The momentum carried into Rodriguez's next fight. On Saturday, Augusrt 12, 2023, he became a two-time world champion, scoring three knockdowns on the gritty Melvin Lopez to win a wide 12-round unanimous decision and capturing the vacant IBF World Bantamweight Championship. 

Rodriguez (22-2, 13 KOs) sustained swelling over his right eye in the second round of the 12-round battle, and even though the eye ballooned as the fight wore on, he outclassed his opponent to the tune of 120-105 scores in his favor from all three judges.

“This is the result of six months of hard work in Mexico,” said Rodriguez, who is from Puerto Rico. “This wouldn’t have been possible without my entire team. I was able to become a champion once again five years later thanks to them. Let’s go Latin America, let’s go Puerto Rico, and let’s go Mexico!

“I remained calm despite the headbutt that caused my eye to swell up in the second round. It kept getting more swollen, but my team did an outstanding job keeping it at bay. I never had a problem with my eyesight throughout the fight.”