By Ryan Songalia

In the search for quality boxing between HBO and Showtime cards, ESPN2's offerings of Friday and Wednesday Night Fights have been hit or miss in recent months. On the hit side, evenly matched bouts with participants heading towards the crossroads have elicited inspired efforts from the Cornelius Lock-Roger Gonzalez and Joel Julio-Ishe Smith fights, notably.

In the miss column, propped up opponents John Poore and Rubin Williams put forth very dismal showings against Brian Minto and Chris Henry respectively. Tuneup fights masquerading as headline-worthy boxing get nothing from me.

The Oscar Diaz-Delvin Rodriguez fight on this week's Wednesday Night Fights figures to be a solid matchup, with both welterweights in desperate need of a big win to stay relevant in their deep division.

What makes this fight interesting is the potential for sustained toe-to-toe action: Both fighters, though tall for their weights, tend to negate that statistic and trade shots at close range.

At stake is the vacant USBA title, a belt that carries immediate implications in the IBF rankings. But more urgent is the possibility of sinking to journeyman status and the subsequent dips in purses.

"My back is against the wall in this fight," Diaz, 26-2 (12 KO), told BoxingScene.com. "I have to go out there and show everyone I'm still capable of being one of the best and champion some day. We are two young fighters who are hungry and want to win."

Diaz was on the cusp of breakout paydays with the likes of Arturo Gatti and Miguel Cotto before the pivotal setback of his career, an 11th round TKO loss to Golden Johnson.

"Everything went wrong from the get go," Diaz said. "I got cut on my eye, hurt my hand within the first 2 rounds. I let my emotions get involved in the fight and didn't pay attention to my corner. I just went out there to knock him out. I got away from the game plan."

Johnson went on to lose in the first round to Antonio Margarito. Diaz went on the shelf to heal his wounds, both emotional and physical.

Diaz returned eight months later to face Juan Manuel Buendia. The fight never got started. Cuts once again hindered a Diaz affair, as an accidental head-butt sent him home with 45 stitches and an no contest. Nonetheless, Diaz feels that his past issues with plasma are just that, the past.

"The cuts have healed fine, I wont have any problems with them. They haven't been because of a punch, they were due to head-butts. I'm not worried about them being a problem."

2008 has been much kinder to Diaz than the previous year. His last fight, an eight round decision win over designated opponent Roberto Valenzuela in May, helped restore Diaz's confidence after a nearly two-year winless drought.

"After the fight with Valenzuela I felt good," said Diaz. "I had to shake a lot of ring rust and nervousness being back in the ring. It's been a rough last few years trying to stay active again and climb back to the top."

Rodriguez, 22-2-1 (13 KO) of Danbury, Connecticut, can relate to Diaz's plight. He too saw his upward momentum come to a skidding halt at the hands of upset-minded Jesse Feliciano last year.

Through the first seven stanzas, the Dominican-born Rodriguez was in total command, working brilliantly off of his jab and landing thudding combinations off the head and body of Feliciano.

Rodriguez began to tire and was unable to fend off the pressure of Feliciano. Instead of tying his tormentor up, Rodriguez elected to trade while he was hurt, accelerating the climax of the fight. The "Win or Die Trying" mentality of Rodriguez was his undoing.

Since the defeat, Rodriguez has rebounded with two consecutive victories. One of those wins came over previously unbeaten Troy Browning, who had upset huge favorite Julio Cesar Garcia last year in a curious fight.

While Diaz concedes that Rodriguez is an effective combination puncher with a valorous courage about him, it is the vulnerability shown against Feliciano which has Diaz feeling optimistic going into the July 16 fight.

"I've seen a few of Delvin's fights and he's been dropped. I don't think he can take too many good punches. His chin is something I'll be testing in the fight."

For the second time in three fights, Diaz will be fighting at home in San Antonio, TX's Municipal Auditorium. Diaz acknowledges that competing at home gives him an edge, but adds that it brings distractions of it's own.

"It puts a little more pressure to look sharp and look good winning," Diaz said.

"I think it gives me a little advantage but it can also be a bad thing. I just can't get excited and listen to the crowd when they react to the punches. I think it will work for me because he has to come to my town and beat me."

The co-featured bout will showcase undefeated welterweight Alexis Camacho taking his first step up in competition against former 1996 Olympian Terrance Cauthen. Camacho has 15 knockouts in 16 wins and Cauthen hasn't fought since being iced by Sechew Powell in four rounds. Are you thinking what I'm thinking?

Also on the card, struggling cruiserweight Felix Cora Jr. of Galveston, TX will try to get back to winning ways after consecutive knockout losses to Matt Godfrey and Vadim Tokarev, not to mention more than a year of inactivity. Being that no opponent has been named, expect a no-hoper on short notice to fill the vacancy.

An event titled "Last Chance" will take place the same night with James Toney and Hasim Rahman fighting a rematch of their 2006 draw. "Lights Out" and "The Rock" aren't the only ones facing elimination that night.