As the old saying goes a good big man usually beats a good little man, but the question that was being asked tonight at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, Connecticut was: Does the bigger man, George “ Comanche Boy” Tahdooahnippah have the skills to go along with his size advantage to get by the much more experienced smaller man Delvin Rodriguez? The answer was an emphatic no.
In the opening round Rodriguez was getting off first with his jab and appeared to have the faster hands, landing some good overhand rights as Tahdooahnippah continued to press forward. Toward the end of the round Rodriguez mixed up his attack a bit by going to the body. Tahdoahnippah did manage to land one good right hand near the end of the round but didn’t do much more other than that.
In round two both men came out a little faster and started to get into some good exchanges but Rodriguez with the faster hands seemed to be putting his shots together a little bit better and was landing the much crisper shots. Near the end of the round it looked as though Rodriguez was going to stop Tadooahnippah, as he landed some monstrous overhand rights and left hooks, but Tadoahnippah was able to survive.
In a bit of confusion between rounds it looked as though Tahdoahnippah’s corner was going to stop the fight but the “Comanche Boy” ended up coming out for the third round and was able to continue.
In round three Rodriguez continued where he left off in the second round and continued to beat Tadoahnippah to the punch, landing solid combinations that rocked him back on his heals. Rodriguez finished the round strong once again, punctuating it with a huge combination that rocked Tadooahnippah backward.
Round 4 was more of the same as Rodriguez seemed like he just couldn’t miss Tadoahnippah with the right hand and continued to pummel him with it throughout the round.
Before the fifth round began the ringside physician checked Tahdoahnippah to see if he was fit to continue and decided to allow the fight to go on. Rodriguez slowed up a bit in this round as Tahdoahnippah tried to press forward while not having much on his punches. As the round wore on Rodriguez was once again the aggressor and started landing his signature right hand that he had been landing all night.
In round six Rodriguez slowed up a bit once again, as it looked as though he was trying to pace himself, but in the middle of the round he picked up the pace and started to land his right hand at will just as he had all fight long. He managed to land a thunderous right hand very close to the end of the round that backed Tahdoahnippah into a corner as he proceeded to rain down a barrage of unanswered blows, forcing referee Eddie Cotton to waive the bout off at 2:41 of the sixth round, declaring Rodriguez the winner by TKO.
In the co feature in what looked to be a somewhat competitive fight on paper, Cincinnati, Ohio’s Chris Howard shocked the Mongolian born Bayan Jargal, stopping him in the third round of a lightweight bout.
