By Mitch Abramson
Nearly two month after his action-packed majority draw with Pawel Wolak at the Roseland Ballroom in Manhattan, Delvin Rodriguez is still trying to figure out what to do next. While the profile of Wolak has seemingly increased since that match- he signed with influential manager Cameron Dunkin and his name has been mentioned in several big fights- Rodriguez has remained in the background.
Joe DeGuardia, the Bronx-based promoter who promotes Rodriguez, is trying to change that. He’s working on several options for his next fight to capitalize on the momentum created from his scintillating match with Wolak, he told BoxingScene.com.
DeGuardia cited some of the bigger names in the junior middleweight division as possible opponents, such as Paul Williams or possibly facing James Kirkland if he and Alfredo Angulo don’t meet on Nov. 5. But the match he wants to make, the one that he is desperately chasing, is a rematch with Wolak in New York, which he believes is a fight the public is clamoring for.
“We’re still looking at a number of things, at a number of different options,” DeGuardia said. “We want to get him a good fight and we’re looking at all the top guys at 154 pounds. Of course, we’re trying to convince Wolak to do the fight again. That’s the one that I think everyone wants to see.”
The fight had everything except a knockout or knockdowns: Wolak fought the second half of the fight nearly blind with a grotesque hematoma over his right eye, and still, he fought on courageously; Rodriguez, after starting the fight slow, picked up the pace and seemed to dominate the latter half of the fight. DeGuardia thinks that Wolak is unwilling to fight Rodriguez again because of the intensity of the first fight.
“We’re trying to push the rematch but I think Pawel is reluctant to take it,” DeGuardia said. “We’re hoping that he ultimately agrees. It’s the fight the fans want to se. It’s like a Gatti-Ward type fight. From a pure fight-fan’s standpoint, that’s a fight that I want to see. Even if a fighter loses that fight, it's not going to set them back.”
No matter what happens with Wolak, DeGuardia is hoping to get Rodriguez in the ring before the end of the year.
Said DeGuardia: "He frankly deserves to be in a big fight right now."
Mitch Abramson covers boxing for the New York Daily News and BoxingScene.com.