Native American middleweight George “Comanche Boy” Tahdooahnippah will be facing his biggest named opponent to date on February 15th when he takes on the veteran, former world title challenger Delvin Rodriguez, at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, Connecticut.
Rodriguez has fought most of his career as a welterweight and his last three fights were at junior middleweight. The contracted weight of 157 lbs, just three pounds shy of the middleweight limit, will be the highest weight he has ever fought at. Although both men stand at five feet ten inches tall, “Camanche Boy” is expected to be the bigger man come fight night and will be looking to utilize his size advantage against Rodriguez. “I’ve got a hundred and fifty years of fight in my heart. I’m going to be bringing it hard non stop with a lot of action. He’s (Delvin Rodriguez) a proven warrior. He’s been the distance and has been in numerous world title fights, but I just know what I got to do and that’s impose my will and be a beast, let him know that I’m one thing that he’s never seen in his life and that’s a real live wild Comanche, and I’m just coming to bring it,” he claimed.
Although Rodriguez is coming off of an uneventful losing effort against WBA Junior Middleweight Champion Austin Trout last June, it’s hard to forget his epic battle against Pawel Wolak in June of 2011 when the two men went to war in a fight of the year type performance. Tahdooahnippah is prepared to do the same if he has to explaining, “Sometimes you just got to fight. Sometimes the game plans go out the window and you just got to plant your feet and tuck your chin and throw down. I just know that I’m an adaptable fighter, and I’m going to do whatever I got to do to win. If I got to slug with him for ten rounds if he can stand up for ten rounds slugging with me, that’s what I’m going to do but if not I’m going to win however I got to do it.”
When asked if there will be any added pressure in this fight because of the fact that Rodriguez will be his biggest name opponent to date “Comanche Boy” responded, “I’ve got nothing to lose. I’m a country boy from Southwest Oklahoma. A lot of people in the boxing world don’t think that Midwest fighters are capable of becoming world champions. When was the last time we had a great Native American fighter? There hasn’t been one so that’s the pressure that I have on me. I’m going to come shine for my people.”
Tahdooahnippah is hoping that February 15th is just the beginning of more big things to come and is looking for 2013 to be his breakout year. “I know it starts with Delvin Rodriguez. I can’t look past him. I got to win and I got to win big. I know from here on out the rest of my career is going to be good.”
Listen to the full interview here: http://mixlr.com/thaboxingvoice/showreel/ronnie-shields-george-comanche-boy-daniel-geale-on-tha-boxingvoice-radio/
