Arnaoutis, of Astoria, N.Y. dropped to 22-5-2 (10).
Rodriguez controlled the fight with jabs and right crosses, which landed with more force after the sixth round. Arnaoutis got in some body shots and scored consistently with the left uppercut in the fifth round.
“I caught up to him in the later rounds,” Rodriguez said. “Unfortunately, I hurt my right hand. I was still able to connect hard. I believe I’m mentally strong enough to do what I have to do.”
At the beginning of the 11th, Rodriguez landed a right cross that opened a cut next to Arnaoutis’ left eye. Rodriguez continued to pressure him, landing a left hook while Arnaoutis had one foot off the canvas, driving him back into the ropes. Both fighters went to the canvas when Rodriguez missed with a left hook and got tripped up.
Demetrius Andrade, the former amateur world champion and 2008 U.S. Olympian, won his 10th fight in as many outings with a six-round unanimous decision over Geoffrey Spruiell of Pueblo, Colo. at junior middleweight.
Steve Weisfeld, Clark Sammartino and Don Ackerman all scored the fight 60-54 for Andrade, who went the distance for the third time as a pro.
There were no knockdowns. Andrade had Spruiell hurt briefly in the final 30 seconds of the fifth round, when he switched to a right-handed stance and landed three hard overhand rights.
“I established my jab early,” Andrade said. “I followed up and was able do what I had to do. I could have been a little tighter.”
Spruiell is now 8-9 (2).
At middleweight, Joe Greene of Queens, N.Y outpointed Chris Gray of Baton Rouge, La. over eight rounds. The scores were 79-73, 78-74 and 77-75. Greene is 22-0 (14); Gray is 12-12 (1).
Shqiprim Muriqi of Yonkers, N.Y. stopped Fasika Bezabeh of New York (in his second straight fight against Bezabeh) in the third round of a scheduled four at super middleweight. Referee George Phillips stopped the fight at 2:08. Muriqi is now 3-0 with 2 KOs; Bezabeh is 0-4.
Yan Barthelemy of Miami earned a victory over previously unbeaten Roberto Benitez of Brooklyn, N.Y. at super bantamweight when the fight was stopped in the fourth round due to a cut on Benitez beneath the left eye. Barthelemy is now 10-2 (3); Benitez is 6-1 (3).
Light heavyweight Yathomas Riley stopped Walter Foster Jr. in the second round of a scheduled four. Riley dropped Foster a total of three times, twice in the second before referee Richard Flaherty stopped the fight without a count at 1:20. Riley is 8-0 (6) with one no-contest; Foster is 4-2 (4).
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