Boxer hospitalized after getting hurt at Blue Horizon

It started off as a controversy. What followed was mostly high drama, but one humdinger of a boxing match ended tragically with one of the gallant main-event fighters being carried from the ring on a stretcher.

Some of the 1,500 or so spectators at the Blue Horizon who only moments before were screaming themselves hoarse last night were observed bowing their heads and praying that Francisco Rodriguez' injuries were not as severe as they appeared as medical personnel tended to him and administered oxygen.

Rodriguez was taken by ambulance to Hahnemann University Hospital, where he was listed in critical condition last night.

"He had too much heart for his own good," one of Teon Kennedy's cornermen said of Rodriguez, a Chicago resident who nearly was stopped in the first round of a scheduled 12-round bout for the vacant USBA super bantamweight championship, but was allowed to fight on because of a questionable ruling made by referee Benjy Esteves.

Esteves, whose work is usually impeccable, appeared to give the twice-staggered Rodriguez a standing eight-count in the final seconds of the opening round. The only problem with that is, according to the unified rules of professional boxing, standing eights were legislated out of existence years ago.

"[Rodriguez] reached for the ropes, touched them and fell forward," Esteves explained. "Technically, it was a knockdown."

Technically, that would be correct if the referee determines that the ropes are preventing a hurt fighter from falling to the canvas. It would then be at the ref's discretion to commence an eight-count. But although Rodriguez did a bunny hop on rubber legs, he never went down, nor did he appear to touch the ropes.

Would Kennedy, with maybe 15 seconds to close the deal, have finished off Rodriguez had not the eight-count been given?

"Definitely," said North Philadelphia's Kennedy (14-0-1, 6 KOs), who first hurt Rodriguez (14-3-1, 8 KOs) with a left hook to the chin before putting him in deeper trouble with a jolting overhand right. "He was ready to go. I'd have stopped him if I hadn't been sent to a neutral corner."

The brief respite appeared to refresh Rodriguez, who came out for the second round and carried the fight to Kennedy with a two-fisted body attack. From that point, the battle was joined. There were numerous spirited exchanges between the two men, who had something of a history: Rodriguez had defeated Kennedy in the amateurs in 2003.

Asked if he expected a toe-to-toe war with Rodriguez, Kennedy said, "A little bit. I had watched some tapes of him. He comes forward a lot.

"He tried to wear me down with those body shots, and they did affect me a little bit. But I kept punching back."

In the 10th, the pendulum swung back toward Kennedy in a big way. He scored repeatedly with big shots until Esteves stepped in and waved the bout to a halt after an elapsed time of 1 minute, 52 seconds.

At the time of the stoppage, Kennedy led on all three judges' cards by margins of 87-83, 86-83 and 86-84.

In the co-featured bout, heavyweight Jason Barnett (11-10, 5 KOs), of St. Petersburg, Fla., may have turned the lights out on the career of Upper Darby's John Poore (21-4, 18 KOs) with a third-round knockout. Barnett's left hook put Poore on his back so emphatically that referee Hurley McCall dispensed with the formality of a count.

Super middleweight Dennis "The Assassin" Hasson (9-0, 3 KOs), of North Philly, was awarded a fifth-round technical knockout of Eric Pinarreta (2-3-1, 1 KO), of New Bedford, Mass., when Pinarreta's corner threw in the towel.