Edwards made the fight more entertaining than was expected before the fight as he was willing to exchange shots with the stronger puncher but that was to the detriment of the Englishman, who is known for his boxing skills and not his punching power.
I thought Edwards held his own early and had the fight even after four rounds but Sunny's left eye had been compromised in the second round and would only get worse as the fight progressed.
Edwards announced after the fight that he had suffered an orbital fracture and considering the eye damage, Edwards deserves kudos for hanging in there against the power punches of Rodriguez.
Round six saw both men land well with Edwards surprising with his eagerness to swap in the middle of the ring but even with Edwards's success, Rodriguez still won the round and controlled the seventh and eighth.
Rodriguez battered Edwards in the ninth and dropped him near the ropes as the round neared its end.
Edwards got up and reached his corner but his team wisely ended the fight.
I had Rodriguez ahead at the time of the stoppage 87-84.
Rodriguez was mentioned for a big fight with junior bantamweight champion Juan Francisco Estrada, which could be an excellent action fight as well as a possible changing of the guard with the veteran Estrada attempting to make a final stand against the young tiger, Rodriguez.
In the co-feature, former WBA and IBF junior featherweight champion Murodjon Akhmadaliev knocked out Kevin Gonzalez in the eighth round to win a title eliminator that will eventually allow Akhmadaliev to fight for his old WBA title after Naoya Inoue vacates his 122-pound belts after his likely win next week over Marlon Tapales.
Gonzalez fought well early but Akhmadaliev broke down Gonzalez, dropped him twice in round six before knocking him down and finishing him off in the eighth.
Had Akhmadaliev fought like this against Marlon Tapales earlier this year, it would be Akhmadaliev that would be unifying titles with Naoya Inoye next week and in my opinion, would be a far more interesting challenge to Inoue than Tapales will be.
It was goodbye to Showtime on Saturday from Minneapolis with a three-fight card with a mismatch in the main event as David Morrell retained his minor title with a second-round drilling of Sena Agbeko in a super middleweight pairing.
Morrell was expected to dispatch Agebeko with ease and he did so, so there's not much else to say other than Morrell looks like the real deal but his competition has been less demanding than Morrell's talent deserves.
The problem is that Morrell looks to be one of the best three super middleweights in the world and in that world, the champion, Canelo Alvarez, doesn't seem thrilled with fighting the second-best, David Benavidez, and Benavidez doesn't seem intrigued with fighting Morrell.
Holding the minor WBA title will eventually put Morrell in a spot to challenge for a title, against Alvarez or a vacant belt but the big fights may elude Morrell for a while.
The super middleweight division has some talented young fighters but they are spread out among several promoters.
Christian Mbilli and Erik Bazinyan are based with Montreal's Eye of the Tiger, who works with Top Rank, Diego Pacheco, and Edgar Berlanga are with Matchroom, and Jaime Munguia is promoted by Golden Boy, so few if any have an incentive to try Morrell on for size.
I'd say the next step for Morrell could be Caleb Plant or Jermall Charlo, should Charlo not fight David Benavidez.
Plant may be the more likely choice, having suffered knockout losses to Alvarez and Benavidez but there is a grudge between Charlo and Plant outside the ring that may make a fight between them a better sale to fans.
In the co-feature, Jose Valenzuela didn't allow the judges to be involved in his rematch with Chris Colbert as Valenzuela knocked Colbert down in round one, and battered him throughout before a one-punch knockout ended the fight in the sixth round.
Colbert tried hard and landed an occasional counter right but he was outgunned by the harder-punching Valenzuela and took a lot of punishment for the third fight in a row had the judges not given the first fight to Colbert, unjustly, Colbert would be on a three-fight losing streak.
Colbert doesn't punch hard enough to keep top fighters off him, and while he is a skilled boxer he's not skilled enough to overcome that liability.
Valenzuela called for Gervonta Davis after the fight and considering the dearth of talent for PBC at lightweight other than Isaac Cruz, Valenzuela could get his chance in 2024, assuming Davis needs an opponent.
The opener was a blast from the past as two welterweight veterans Robert Guerrero battled Andre Berto in a rematch of their spirited 2012 match,
Guerrero won the first fight by unanimous decision and he would repeat the win in the same manner.
Berto was quicker, Guerrero stronger, and Guerrero would win the inside battles to win a reasonably entertaining unanimous decision by scores of 99-91 and 98-92 (x2).
I had the fight a bit closer for Guerrero at 97-93.
It was the type of pairing that fighters of a certain age and quality can still be successful as I don't have much interest in seeing either of these two against a contender or even a solid prospect but matched properly, older boxers can still have a place in the sport.
Boxing Challenge
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