Rafael Rodriguez (boxer)

Rafael Rodriguez is a member of Minnesota's illustrious Rodriguez family of boxers: Bobby, Kenny, Rudy, all of whom fought as professionals; brother John, who fought only as an amateur, and Corey, son of John, who is an active professional boxer. Rafael is divorced from Barbara Seeker, they have 3 children. Elizabeth- 5 grandchildren (Kallie, Cameron, Taylor, Ricky, and Riley), Shannon- 4 grandchildren (Kara, Shon, Justin, and Joshua) Rafael II- (Rafael III) and 1 great-grandson Payton.

Rodriguez made his professional debut with a five-round points win against Casey Puskar on December 3, 1970. He remained undefeated through four professional fights, losing for the first time to 0-9 Billy Goodwin in a fourth-round knockout on March 8, 1972. Following this unexpected loss Rodriguez remained unbeaten for another three years, winning ten fights and earning one draw. By March 1975 Rodriguez was sporting a record of 14-1-1. His career after this point is difficult to characterize; he remained competitive, mixing wins and losses to the end of his career, but compiling a distinctly mediocre record of 14-20-1 before retiring in 1983 following a loss to Gary Holmgren in a fight for the Minnesota junior middleweight title. After starting his career in such compelling fashion, Rodriguez finally retired with a record of 28-20-2 with 10 wins coming by knockout.^[1] However, it must be remembered that many of Rodriguez's later fights were against notably successful boxers, some of whom he surprised by beating them.^[2]

In 2010 it was announced that Rodriguez would be a member of the inaugural class of inductees to the Minnesota Boxing Hall of Fame.^[3]