Andrew Rodgers’ record might suggest he’s a gatekeeper, but his story reveals a fighter far more formidable – both in and out of the ring. Hailing from the tough streets of Elkhart, Indiana, Rodgers has been shot three times, some incidents overlapping with his professional boxing career. One bullet remains lodged in his buttocks, a permanent reminder of the violence he’s survived.
Yet, against the odds, Rodgers continues to step into the ring, each past battle sharpening his resolve and shaping a unique intensity that defines his fighting spirit, though that isn’t his only story.
On Saturday, Rodgers will hit the road again, facing undefeated prospect Isaiah Johnson at The Met Philadelphia.
Rodgers (9-12, 3 KOs) is 3-3-1 in his last seven fights, with notable victories over Willie Shaw, the late Samuel Teah, and most recently, Julian Rodarte in Stockton, California, this past July. Remarkably, just three weeks before the Rodarte fight, he fought to a draw with Tobias Green in Nashville, a bout he took at lightweight before moving up to junior welterweight for his next challenge.
“I think it’s a bad fight for him,” the 32-year-old Rodgers said of the 22-year-old Johnson. “He’s never been eight rounds, and this is his first time. I told Rodney [Rice, promoter of RDR Promotions], this is a bad step-up fight for him.”
Rodgers hasn’t always been this confident fighter. At times his life has been messed up – hence his record. Rodgers’ life has been a series of battles.
“I grew up amongst the violence,” Rodgers said. “I’ve been shot on different occasions. One was life-threatening, causing me to be a trauma patient for a month.”
He speaks of those close brushes with death with a reflective calm, as if recalling a conversation with an old friend, each memory punctuated by the beep of a heart monitor in a lonely hospital room. Over seven surgeries and countless visits from doctors, Rodgers found himself in isolation, with only his thoughts for company.
“It’s a terrible experience, man,” Rodgers said. “I had to wear a catheter, had over seven surgeries, and saw so many different doctors. I just tuned into my inner self, did a lot of self-reflecting.”
One bullet severed his popliteal artery and shattered his femur. “They wanted to cut ligaments off,” Rodgers recalled, but he refused, saying, “Wherever my leg goes, I go.”
Miraculously, the blood began to flow back to his left side, a moment Rodgers attributes to divine intervention.
“I could have died, but God was like, I don’t want him. The devil said, I don’t want him. It was like they left me on Earth.”
So the fighter inside the ring became a fighter outside it. Eager to recover, Rodgers defied doctors’ orders and expectations. He was eager to walk and fight again. Most would have been defined by this, others would have halted their dream because of it – Rodgers sees as just a part of his journey, but not the whole story.
For Rodgers, fighting is easy compared to the life-and-death struggles he’s faced. As he prepares to face the undefeated Johnson (9-0, 7 KOs), Rodgers knows what he brings to the ring.
“I bring to the ring what others don’t – aggression, pain, and suffering. A lot of people haven’t been through what I’ve been through.”
Training at Diaz Boxing Club in Illinois, under head trainer Mark Chears and Moises Diaz, Rodgers remains dedicated to the sport he loves, despite the setbacks early in his career.
“I never really took boxing seriously,” Rodgers recalled. “I picked up boxing at 18 after leaving Ivy Tech Community College. I just fell in love with it.”
Now, his love has turned into testing young fighters, as he prepares for yet another challenge on the road. For this road warrior, there’s a simple rule for knowing when it’s time to hang up the gloves. A question that always has to be asked when someone does something for the love of it is when do you stop?
“When I start taking punishment, I know it’s time to give it up,” Rodgers said. “But for now, I’m still here, showing everybody they can overcome a bad record.”
Every fight for Rodgers is a testament to his survival, a chapter in the life of a fighter shaped by his past and driven by his life of fighting both in-and-out of the ring.
“Everything I’ve been through is preparing me for these situations now,” Rodgers said. “I’ve been through worse. So, what’s this little situation?”
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