Media Conference: Rodriguez
vs. George
February 1, 2012
NEW YORK - Earlier today DiBella
Entertainment hosted a media teleconference to announce "Bombs Away",
the much anticipated March 17th (St. Patrick's Day) co-feature fight
between top-rated Super Middleweight contenders Edwin "La Bomba"
Rodriguez and Donovan "Da Bomb" George being shown live on HBO.The card,
headlined by Middleweight Champion, Sergio "Maravilla" Martinez
defending his crown against Matthew Macklin is entitled, "THE Real
Middleweight Championship - Get Your Irish Up" and will take place at
The Theater at Madison Square Garden. HBO will begin live coverage
at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT.
The call began with the usual "thank yous" and both fight camps stating
how excited they were for the opportunity, before tensions rose when
Larry Army, manager/advisor of Rodriguez took offense to statements made
by the manager of George, Mike Michael. Below is a complete
transcript from the call:
KEVIN ROONEY JR.: Thanks for joining us today. Unfortunately, Lou
DiBella is a little bit under the weather. He's not going to be on the
call today, but we will have Ron Rizzo from our office participating in
the call. Leon Margules, the co-promoter of Donovan George, with 8-Count
Productions, unfortunately also cannot be on the call, but we will have
Mike Michaels, of Cestus Management, the longtime manager and advisor of
Donovan, say a few words before introducing Donovan's trainer and
father, Pete George. Then we'll turn it over to Donovan. After Donovan's
portion of the call, we'll get into Edwin's, Edwin's manager and
advisor, Larry Army will say a few words before introducing Edwin's
trainer, Ronnie Shields. Then we'll turn it over to Edwin. Following
Edwin's portion of the call, we will open the call up for questions.
The card is entitled, "The Real Middleweight Championship: Get Your
Irish Up," and will feature the real middleweight champion, and
consensus top-three pound-for-pound fighter in the world, Sergio "Maravilla"
Martinez taking on Matthew "Mack the Knife" Macklin. The card will take
place on St. Patrick's Day at the Theater at Madison Square Garden and
is promoted by DiBella Entertainment, and will be shown live on HBO,
beginning at 10PM ET/7PM PT, along with this fight we are announcing
today. Tickets are priced at $505, $355, $205, $125, and $65. Tickets
can be purchased through the Madison Square Garden box office, or
through Ticketmaster, or by calling (800) 745-3000. Without further ado,
I would like to turn the call over to Ron Rizzo, Vice President of
Operations for DiBella Entertainment.
RON RIZZO: Hi everybody, thank you for joining us. We have a very
exciting event happening March 17, St. Patrick's Day, featuring Sergio
Martinez and Matthew Macklin. The co-feature for the televised portion
of the show has been named and it's going to be Edwin "La Bomba"
Rodriguez and Donovan "Da Bomb" George. I'm excited about this as these
two fighters have been talking about this fight since they both were on
a show back on April 30, 2010, where they fought in separate but both
televised bouts, with George facing Osumanu Adama and Rodriguez fighting
Kevin Engel. They have been talking about fighting each other since
then, they both have "bomb" as part of their nickname, which means they
can both punch, and that's not actually a lie. I'm looking forward to
it. We'll go back to Kevin to introduce the other participants, but
thank you everybody for tuning in today.
KEVIN ROONEY JR.: Talking with the media and looking over the social
websites, the general consensus is that everyone is excited about this
fight. It's going to be bombs away. Both of these guys don't know how to
be in a boring fight. It's great for television and it's great for
boxing. I want to introduce Mike Michaels, of Cestus Management,
longtime manager and advisor of Donovan George.
MIKE MICHAELS: We've been with Donovan for quite a while now and we
consider Donovan George and the whole family as part of our family, and
we're doing this as a family situation. Donovan has come very far in a
very power packed career and we feel that this is his time. It's a great
scenario to be fighting at Madison Square Garden, with the
pound-for-pound best fighter in the world, as far as I consider, in the
main event. Fighting at the Mecca of boxing where legends have been
built is just another dream for all of us. We know that Donovan is going
to win the fight. There is no doubt, no question. There will be no
reasonable doubt of any kind. Donovan is going to show up in tiptop
shape. He's going to fight the fight of his life, he's going to take
care of business and move on to win a world title after that. This in no
way means that we are underestimating Edwin Rodriguez because we
consider him a very good fighter. We are going to train as hard as we
possibly can to prepare for a very good fighter. We're also a very good
fighter and we believe we're a better fighter so we will win this fight
no matter what. We're going to take Edwin to places he's never been
before and the fighter that will be victorious will be Donovan "Da Bomb"
George. There's only one bomb, and that's Don "Da Bomb" George. "La
Bomba" I understand you have that name, but by the end of this fight,
there will only be one bomb.
KEVIN ROONEY JR.: Thank you Mike, the always very colorful Mike
Michaels. I'm sure we'll have a nice rebuttal from the Rodriguez camp
once we get to their turn. I would like to have Pete George, the trainer
and father of Donovan, say a few words.
PETE GEORGE: Mike pretty much said it all and I couldn't agree more with
him. I have the utmost respect for Edwin Rodriguez. I think he's a great
fighter and he's got a great trainer, but like Mike said we're going to
bring it. We've been waiting for this day forever. I've learned not to
underestimate my son and I believe he's going to be ready. This is what
he's been dreaming about to be on this big stage. We're ready to go and
we hope it's an exciting fight and I'm sure it will be. Both of these
guys come to fight and they're both big punchers. I can't see any way
that this is not going to be a great fight. I'd also like to thank Lou
DiBella, promoting the fight, and our other promoters Leon Margules and
Dominic Pesoli, and of course I want to thank Mike Michael because he's
the best. He's been with us through thick and thin, he's like family to
us.
KEVIN ROONEY JR.: Now for the fighter himself, with a 22-1-1 (19 KOs)
record, the current USBA super middleweight champion and #4 ranked super
middleweight in the IBF world ratings, Donovan "Da Bomb" George.
DONOVAN GEORGE: I am very grateful for this opportunity to be on such a
big stage and it's going to be such a great atmosphere. To be at the
Mecca of boxing is a dream come true. I was supposed to fight there five
or six years ago, and my opponent failed his EKG or one of the heart
tests, so it's kind of like I had a rain check to be back there. As far
as Rodriguez, I've seen a lot of tape on him. I've seen him coming up.
He's a great fighter, he comes to fight. He's a big super middleweight.
I know he's going to be in tiptop shape and I think it's going to be an
excellent war. Obviously, I think I am going to come out on top. I don't
care if I win by split decision, majority decision, knockout, whatever,
I just want to win. I am going to lay it all out on the line for this
fight. This is my big opportunity. I think you only get one in life and
this is it for me. I'm sure we both want the same thing. We're both
trying to be world champions, to become an HBO fighter and make millions
of dollars and take care of our families. At the end of the day, may the
best man win. I just hope we have a great fight, nobody gets seriously
hurt and we can continue with our careers.
KEVIN ROONEY JR.: I would now like to introduce Larry Army, the manager
and advisor of Edwin Rodriguez.
LARRY ARMY: I want to thank Lou DiBella and DiBella Entertainment for
providing this opportunity for Edwin Rodriguez and the rest of us at
Team Rodriguez. I'd also like to thank Madison Square Garden and the
leadership at HBO, including Ken Hershman. This is one of the first
fights he's put on this year and I think that he's done a tremendous job
matching two very credible opponents that are both equally dangerous.
It's not just satisfying fighting on the biggest stage in boxing, on the
biggest network in boxing, that's the appetizer. The entre is the
victory that we hope to get that night. I'm not going to sit here and
disrespect Donovan George as you guys have disrespected Edwin, and say
that we're going to beat him because he is a credible opponent and when
you step into the ring, anything can happen and typically does. But I
will tell you this, we will be ready, we will be prepared, and we will
give 100 percent effort that night. Edwin hasn't lost, Donovan has.
Edwin hasn't tasted defeat yet, and I don't think March 17 is the day
that he's going to start feeling what it's like to be a loser. Edwin
knows how to win. He's always won and he will continue to win. We do
think this is a great fight for us stylistically, very similar to the
Will Rosinsky fight that we just had. In a lot of ways, they both have
power, they are both limited. Edwin's had a very good four years, he
hasn't had any big layoffs. I noticed on Donovan's record that he's had
some big layoffs in terms of the way he's been brought up. I think that,
in terms of opponents, we've fought better opponents over the last year
and half, guys like Aaron Pryor Jr. and James McGirt Jr., Will Rosinsky,
who won a national amateur championship. Edwin's pedigree, I think, is
going to be too strong for Donovan on that night. Quite frankly, when it
comes to the trainer, we have the advantage in that camp as well with
Ronnie Shields, who's trained guys like Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield
and Pernell Whitaker. I feel like we've assembled the perfect team for
this fight and I feel that this is the perfect opponent. We wouldn't
have taken the fight if we didn't think we could win it. We did take the
fight. We've actually been asking for this fight since Chicago,
Illinois, when we fought on the same card as Donovan and we watched him
get dropped by Osumanu Adama. We watched Edwin win his fight against
Kevin Engel with a single punch to the body. We're excited about this
fight. We hope that this is the launching pad for the rest of his
career. We feel that this is the perfect stage and the perfect opponent
to do just that, to turn Edwin Rodriguez into a household name and the
next star of boxing.
MIKE MICHAEL: Kevin, let me just interject there. We didn't disrespect
Edwin. We believe our fighter is going to win. What did you want us to
say, that he's going to lose?
LARRY ARMY: I want you to think that he's going to win, but if you're
that confident why don't we put up our purse against your purse and
we'll do a winner-take-all.
MIKE MICHAEL: We believe in our fighter, okay, and great fighters lose.
LARRY ARMY: Yeah, they do, and these are two guys that are very evenly
matched in a lot of different ways. I respect the fact that you think
that your guy is going to win, but to come on the line and say that
Donovan's going to get a victory and he's going to beat Edwin and that
there's only going to be one bomb at the end of the night, to me, is
disrespectful.
MIKE MICHAEL: No, it's not disrespectful...
LARRY ARMY: That's the beauty of America, we can disagree.
RON RIZZO: Alright guys, let's move on this portion of the call with
Ronnie Shields coming up next and then we can have group commentary when
the press gets to ask their questions.
RONNIE SHIELDS: Donovan George is a very skilled fighter. We take no one
lightly so we're here training, but I think after the fight, we ought to
put the managers in and let them go at it and make them put up their
purse against each other. We're looking forward to this fight. This is
what we do. I think that both guys will be competitive. The best man is
going to win on March 17 and I think that's all that matters. The other
team is very confident, we're very confident. This is the game. This is
the way it's supposed to be. They're supposed to feel like their guy is
better just like we feel Edwin is better. I'm here in Houston to get
Edwin into the best condition possible and to put together the best
possible game plan. If you live in New York, please come out and see
this because this is going to be better than the main event.
KEVIN ROONEY JR.: A fighter we're very excited to work with at DiBella
Entertainment, we feel he is one of the bright young stars in all of
boxing, he's 20-0 (14 KOs), he was the 2005 US National Champion and the
2006 National Golden Gloves Champion, and he's currently ranked #5 by
the WBC and IBF, and #8 by the WBA, and he is the current USNBC super
middleweight champion, Edwin "La Bomba" Rodriguez.
EDWIN RODRIGUEZ: I want to thank my whole team, DBE, and Lou DiBella,
for giving me such a big opportunity on HBO at Madison Square Garden.
This is a dream come true for any boxer and I'm training extremely hard
for Donovan George. He's a very good fighter. He's one of those fighters
that doesn't know how to take a step back so I am not taking lightly at
all. So I'm bringing 100 percent, my best game, in. With regard to the
bet between the managers, giving all to the winner, I'm sure it's going
to be me, but I like that bet. After this fight, I look forward to
bigger things. I just want to thank everybody for this big opportunity.
KEVIN ROONEY JR.: At this time, we would like to open it up to
questions.
DAX CONN (TALKIN' BOXING): Don, you're only two fights removed from your
loss to Francisco Sierra. Since then, both your bouts have a combined
amount of time of nine rounds. You've never been beyond eight rounds in
your entire professional career. Edwin is a pressure fighter. He has a
solid chin and has gone 10 rounds several times. Considering all that I
just mentioned, has your camp done anything different for this fight
than you normally have in the past in your preparations considering the
time off and the amount of time that you've had in between your bouts so
you can prepare yourself for what will more than likely be a distance of
10 rounds in your bout against Edwin.
DONOVAN GEORGE: I'm not sure that I'm doing anything differently. I'm
going to train harder than I've ever trained before because of the high
possibility that this fight is going to go more than eight rounds. The
reason I haven't been in the ring in a long time is entirely might
fault. I was a numbskull and I just didn't work out. But I've been in
the gym, I've been training, I've been sparring. I've cut weight, I've
been on weight, I just didn't get the opportunity to go out there and
fight. As far as this fight coming up, I couldn't be more excited. I'm
so motivated to train hard and my father is going to get me ready. We're
going to bring in the strength coach to give me the extra edge as much
as possible. I know it's going to be a grueling fight and I know it's
going to come down to conditioning and basically who can take the better
punch. I have that one loss on my record and it wasn't just a loss. I
got beat up bad, it was a horrific beating and everyone saw it. It was
on national television and it was embarrassing, but I bounced back and
beat a pretty good fighter. I just want to go out there and prove myself
and fight fights like this on the biggest stage in the world. It's just
a great opportunity to show the world what I'm made of and I know it's
going to be a great fight.
DAX CONN (TALKIN' BOXING): Edwin, this question is for you. Donovan has
some serious power, as we all know. Nineteen of his 21 wins come by
stoppage. You, yourself though, have a fairly impressive KO ratio, 14 of
your 20 wins come by stoppage, but you've also shown some pure boxing
ability when you need to and you have a higher level of competition on
your resume. Donovan, I believe, does possess more power. Are you ready
for a toe-to-toe war that Donovan brings or do you think that if Donovan
does bring his pressure that you'll be able to outbox him? Or do you
really believe that this will come down to, as Donovan mentioned, who
has the better chin?
EDWIN RODRIGUEZ: We know who has the better chin. I've never been down
before, but I let my trainer Ronnie Shields come up with a game plan and
I just follow his game plan. He better come up with a game plan on how
to beat Donovan George and I'm just going to execute it on March 17.
JEFFREY FREEDMAN (KO DIGEST): Edwin, after the Rosinsky fight, you said
you wanted to fight somebody in the top 10 and somebody who could get
you to that championship level. I was wondering is Don George somebody
like that or is this more of a Rosinsky-type fight as you move toward
your ultimate goal?
EDWIN RODRIGUEZ: Donovan George is ranked #4 by the IBF, so he is one of
those guys ranked in the top 10. It's definitely a step up and I'm just
preparing for it and getting ready.
JEFFREY FREEDMAN (KO DIGEST): Edwin, talk a little bit about what it
means to be fighting at Madison Square Garden on HBO for the first time.
Is that as big a dream as winning a world title, or perhaps even bigger?
EDWIN RODRIGUEZ: Being on HBO is a huge opportunity. Being at Madison
Square Garden, which is about four hours from where I live, so I'm going
to have a lot of fans there. It's a great opportunity, so it's almost
just as good as winning a world title.
JEFFREY FREEDMAN (KO DIGEST): For boxing fans who don't really know that
much about you, can you tell us about your style in the ring, and who
you are as a person outside of the ring?
DONOVAN GEORGE: In the ring, I like to come forward and fight. If you've
ever seen any of my fights, I've never been in a bad fight. I take shots
and I give shots. I'm always willing to take one to give one. This is
going to be an action-packed fight. I am going to try to tighten up my
boxing ability, but as the fight gets going and it gets into the later
rounds, everybody goes back to the fighter that they were when they
first started fighting and the original fundamentals they were taught.
My father taught me to use the jab, so that's what I thought I'd do.
Outside of the ring, I'm a humongous sports fan. I watch sports all day
and, to be honest, I probably play poker four or five times a week for
12 hours at a time.
JEFFREY FREEDMAN (KO DIGEST): What did you learn from the loss to
Francisco Sierra? You described it as a horrific loss earlier. It had
that somewhat controversial ending. What do you take from an experience
like that?
DONOVAN GEORGE: I was losing the fight. I was getting beat up bad. Yeah,
he hit me after the bell, but I'm not going to complain about that. I
went into that fight overconfident and I wasn't mentally ready for that
fight. I was hurt, I should never have gone in there. I thought, in my
mind, 'oh I'm just going to go in there and blow this bum out,' but it
didn't turn out like that, and I took a terrific, humbling beating. I'll
never take anyone lightly like that again. Everything happens for a
reason. Because of that fight, I got that Cornelius White fight. They
brought me in there to get killed against Cornelius White and,
obviously, that didn't happen. On the big scheme of things, everything
happens for a reason.
JEFFREY FREEDMAN (KO DIGEST): In your amateur career, or at any point in
the past, have you ever sparred with Edwin Rodriguez? Have you two even
met?
DONOVAN GEORGE: No, I had a very limited amateur career. I've probably
only been to a few national tournaments, and I'm not even sure if I've
ever seen him there. The only time that I saw him was in Chicago when he
fought Kevin Engel. To Mr. Army, I don't think I got dropped in that
Adama fight like you said I did, but maybe I got hit too hard. But as
far as the amateurs, Edwin has more accomplishments that I have, and god
bless. But this is the pros and I'm going to come to fight and I'm
willing to lay it all out on the line for this fight.
JEFFREY FREEDMAN (KO DIGEST): How did this fight between Rodriguez and
George come about and why did Andy Lee pull out?
KEVIN ROONEY JR.: We had been looking for an opponent for Andy and,
unfortunately, we weren't able to lock in a suitable opponent for Andy
that fit for HBO and fit for Lee's camp. We obviously didn't want to
lose the slot, as we still had the show. So then we came up with this
fight between Edwin and Donovan, and everyone loved it. It's unfortunate
that we don't have Andy on the card, but we think that we have a great
fight with this Edwin-Donovan fight.
BOB MUTTER (CHICAGO TRIBUNE): You are half Greek, half Irish?
DONOVAN GEORGE: Yes sir.
BOB MUTTER (CHICAGO TRIBUNE): Your mom is Irish?
DONOVAN GEORGE: My mom is 100 percent Irish, and my dad is 100 percent
Greek. Both were born in the US.
BOB MUTTER (CHICAGO TRIBUNE): Where are you training Donovan?
DONOVAN GEORGE: I train between gyms. I train at Chicago Fight Club with
Sam Colona. My father and I go down there and we go to Windy City Fight
Club, which is closer to my house. I'll be going out to New York the
week of the fight.
BILL HILLMAN: Since Edwin is ranked #5 and Donovan #4 by the IBF,
will this fight be an IBF title eliminator?
LARRY ARMY: We wanted it to be, but it just didn't work out. I think
part of the problem was Adonis Stevenson and Jesus Gonzalez. There was a
non-mandatory, voluntary before we made this fight. We would have loved
it. Donovan George's team would have loved it, I'm sure. They had a
title eliminator with Librado Andrade, but it just wasn't in the cards
unfortunately.
MIKE MICHAEL: As you're aware, we were supposed to be doing the title
eliminator with Librado Andrade, but that didn't work out. As you just
heard, we would have loved for this to be for the #1 spot and #2 spot,
but that didn't work out. But maybe we can work out doing a defense of
George's USBA title. We'll talk with Lou DiBella and Leon Margules and
we'll see what we can work out.
LARRY ARMY: And there's Edwin's WBC USNBC title as well.
MIKE MICHAEL: Let's throw all of our belts into the pot and let's talk
to our promoters.
LARRY ARMY: I agree.
BILL HILLMAN: Edwin and Ronnie, what did you guys pick up from that win
over Will Rosinsky and what are you guys planning on changing for this
bout?
RONNIE SHIELDS: These are two different fighters. Will Rosinsky was a
good boxer as well as a pressure fighter and Donovan is a 'come for the
head' kind of guy, so that right there puts you in a different kind of
light. I'm studying tape of Donovan right now and putting together our
plan. The thing about Rosinsky was that he was a naturally bigger guy
and we had to go up in weight to fight him. He was a strong fighter.
Donovan is more Edwin's weight. These guys are 168 pounders.
EDWIN RODRIGUEZ: Like Ronnie said, they're both different fighters.
Rosinsky a shorter fighter so he was harder to hit, but this is a whole
different fight. We're going to stick to this game plan and it has
nothing to do with Will Rosinsky.
BILL HILLMAN: For Donovan and Pete, Edwin hits pretty hard to the body.
What are you guys doing to prepare for Edwin's body attack?
PETE GEORGE: Hundreds of rounds on the medicine ball will help us get
ready for that one, preparing him so he can take those shots. Edwin is a
good body puncher, and Donovan will be ready to take those shots.
There's things that we see that we're going to try to exploit that Edwin
might be doing wrong. I know Edwin is going to be prepared and we're
going to be prepared. But there's things that we see that we're working
on.
KEVIN ROONEY JR.: Thank you everyone for participating in today's call.
The Edwin "La Bomba" Rodriguez (20-0, 14KO's) vs. Don "Da Bomb" George
(22-1-1, 19KO's) 10-round super middleweight showdown, being billed as
"Bombs Away" will be the co-feature bout of the evening to Sergio "Maravilla"
Martinez (48-2-2, 27KO's) defending his Middleweight crown against
top-rated Irish middleweight contender, Matthew "Mack The Knife" Macklin
(28-3, 19KO's). The card which will be aired live on HBO's "World
Championship Boxing is entitled, "THE REAL Middleweight Championship -
Get Your Irish Up", is promoted by DiBella Entertainment and will be
shown live on HBO beginning 10PM ET/7PM PT.
Published on WBAN. We cover women's boxing and men's boxing.
