BoxRec

this guy is #3 contender to froch in the IBF. he destroyed denis grachev (kickboxing-world-champ-turned-boxer, who gave bute a hard fight and beat erdei) in a round, landing about 70 power shots. it was a super middle/light heavy catchweight and rodriguez won something called the "super 4" tournament, winning $600,000.

if froch fights groves, expected to be made IBF mandatory, in a high profile british fight, froch could have his hands full defending this IBF title.

some of these guys coming up the rankings are very dangerous, as was the case with Adonis Stevenson, who also proved his punch above super middle by starching world light heavy champ chad dawson. Stevenson was the "unfashionable mando" who could've tested froch.

I know after the great win over Kessler, ppl want froch-ward 2, but ward's got promoter problems and I think froch's got his plate full with the titles he has...once these KO kings like rodriguez get the high ranking, and get noticed by American TV, things can happen.

thoughts? super middle Edison Miranda, or banana skin?

When has Froch ever had trouble with KO kings? Froch has destroyed much, much better fighters than Grachev (and let's face it, that was a ghost of Bute that Grachev fought, coming off his humiliating beating from Froch), Rodriguez has an interesting future for sure but I doubt he has anything to trouble Froch with at the moment

Rodriguez isnt really a KO king. That knockout flatters him somewhat. Like the OP said, he landed 70 power shots to finish him off! He's got decent power but he's not that big of a puncher. Anyway aside from that he's a decent fighter though who would give Froch a good fight. He's sparred with Froch in the past. Froch used him as a sparring partner when he was preparing for Arthur Abraham.

GreenLightning wrote:When has Froch ever had trouble with KO kings? Froch has destroyed much, much better fighters than Grachev (and let's face it, that was a ghost of Bute that Grachev fought, coming off his humiliating beating from Froch), Rodriguez has an interesting future for sure but I doubt he has anything to trouble Froch with at the moment

Bute aside, when has Froch 'destroyed' a fighter or fighters much better than Grachev?

Rodriguez came over an sparred froch for a couple of weeks the other year.

this is a guy who could end up fighting froch, given the IBF rating and the IBF's strict policy on mandatories.

1st round KO of the #10 light heavy (according to ring mag) isn't too shabby.

don't overlook these dangerous fighters coming through the IBF rankings. while some like oosthuin have turned out to be unimpressive, others - namely Adonis Stevenson - went on to make their name.

and I really hope froch and his team have their eye on the ball. you'd hate him to miss the glamour fights by coming in overconfident against some of these guys. or have a harder than necessary win, taking more punishment than he needs to. if ward is tied up with a contract dispute, froch may just have to get on with defending his title(s) and some of the fights are dangerous.