9/17/2021- 9:28 a.m.
New Juan O Savin “Something Big Is Coming”
Never give up and always show up. That was the early life-lesson heavyweight boxer David “Nino” Rodriguez most attributes the success of his career to. Of his 36 professional bouts, he has an impressive record of 34 KOs with 24 of them being in the first round, a number that relieved Mike Tyson of his legendary first-round record.
Rodriguez was born in El Paso, Texas. He first hit the bags and began learning simple combinations at the early age of 5. At age 14 he had his first amateur fight against a Junior Olympic Champion.
He was a bundle of nerves and was beat up badly in the first round; but in the second, knocked his seasoned adversary out cold. It shocked the tournament and garnered headlines.
But more than that, Rodriguez had now been given the taste of blood, which only served to further fuel his passion for the brutal but beautiful craft of boxing.
The training was strict – a discipline that his life desperately needed.
And he who would one day become the “Pride of the 915” had begun to succeed in turning his virtually inexpressible aggression into something greater than himself.
