Francisco Rodriguez: Boxer's death grants chances at lifeOrgan donations reach 5 recipients, including mother's cousin
By Oscar Avila Tribune reporter
November 25, 2009
Evaristo Rodriguez Sr. was speaking as a father -- not as a trainer -- when he urged his son Francisco this summer to abandon his pro boxing career as "Kid Aztec" to support his newborn daughter.
"Dad, you opened all these doors to me and now you want to close them?" he recalls his son asking.
"Son," he replied, "I would never take anything away from you."
So it was that Francisco Rodriguez's father and older brother were in his corner last weekend when the popular and accomplished Chicago boxer suffered fatal injuries in a title fight in Philadelphia. He was 25.
In their Logan Square home Tuesday, the tight-knit boxing family wrestled with guilt that Rodriguez had kept boxing. But the grief temporarily gave way to the proud news that Rodriguez would help the family even in death.
His organs were donated to five people, including a cousin of his mother, who will get a kidney.
"Francisco will still walk the face of this Earth in others," said older brother Alex Rodriguez, his business manager.
Evaristo Rodriguez Sr. had been a professional fighter in Mexico, and he always wished one of his sons would follow that path. His brothers had encouraged Rodriguez to pursue his dream, saying they would offer whatever financial support they could. Alex Rodriguez said he thought his job as an electrician was more dangerous.
Rodriguez, like brother Evaristo Rodriguez Jr., would win a national Golden Gloves title. He also competed in the U.S. Olympic trials in 2004. Above all, friends and relatives said, he wanted to live up to his family's boxing legacy.
Friday's fight was for a minor title that could have been a steppingstone into the world rankings. If Rodriguez had lost, his father believed that he might have retired. He is survived by his wife, Sonia, and their 5-month-old daughter, Ginette.
At the family home, adorned with crucifixes and one of Rodriguez's title belts, relatives said they have replayed Friday's fight over and over in their minds.
Rodriguez was stunned by an early flurry from opponent Teon Kennedy that nearly knocked him out in the first round. But he came back to hurt Kennedy. The fight remained competitive until the referee stopped it in the 10th round.
Throughout, Rodriguez was responding to a doctor's questions and showed no visible sign of injury, his father said.
Rodriguez's father and brother acknowledge they bear a horrible weight: They were the only ones who had the power to stop the fight.
"We all want to blame ourselves," Alex Rodriguez said. "But he went out doing what he loved to do. How many people wouldn't want that?"
Rodriguez's family decided to donate his organs. The Gift of Life Donor Program in Philadelphia said there would be five recipients.
The cousin of Rodriguez's mother has been on dialysis and needs a kidney. The family declined to identify the man, who lives in the Chicago area.
The only comfort that the family can offer Rodriguez now is on a table in the corner of the living room. Next to images of the Virgin of Guadalupe is a glass of water.
Alex Rodriguez said he left it there in case his brother grows thirsty on his journey to heaven, a typical gesture for a Mexican immigrant family in mourning.
As tough as it was, Evaristo Rodriguez Sr. said he has no regrets that he was witness to his son's death.
Fighting back tears, he said: "There was no other person that should have been there."
oavila@tribune.com
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-boxer-killed-25-nov25,0,3705610.story
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