By Ryan Songalia
Photo © Emily Harney/Fightwireimages.com

The road to the top is paved in gold for few boxers who aren't Olympic gold medalists. Then again, few things in life have come easy for Delvin Rodriguez.

Growing up in the Dominican Republic, he helped tend the family farm from four years of age to ten while his parents struggled to make a life in America. He walked three miles on dirt roads to attend school, all the while dreaming of the day he could reunite with his parents in The States.

His career as a professional boxer hasn't been unlike his journey in life. Rodriguez turned pro in 1999, fighting six times in his opening year. During the next two years, he averaged a third as many fights and from 2002-2004, he only fought once a year. Though a ten-year professional at 28 years old, he has only 28 fights to show for it.

"When you're a young guy entering the business you don't know how the plan works," said Rodriguez, 24-2-2 (14 KO). "When you start a career you should be fighting every other month, but I had a lot of layoffs. If you don't have the right people behind you, you're going to have a rough time."

Rodriguez contemplated quitting the sport many times in the early going, bouncing around promoters and managers in a career that lacked direction.

"I thought that if this is the way the sport is, I don't want to deal with this."

The pieces to a disorganized career finally began to come together in 2004 when he signed with current manager Stan Hoffman. A year later Star Boxing would come on board and a consistent stream of cable television coverage would follow.

Rodriguez's most recent fight, this past Friday's ESPN2 Friday Night Fights main event against Shamone Alvarez at the Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, CT, was an exhibition of what his career has been all about to date.

Rodriguez made sure to capitalize on his second consecutive IBF title eliminator, though the fight was not without incident. Midway through the eighth round Rodriguez hurt his right hand on the southpaw Alvarez's head, exacerbating an old tendon injury in his knuckles.

The fight was dead even by most unbiased accounts at that point. Instead of letting the pressure get to him, he rose to the occasion.

"When the ninth round came up, my hand was in such a bad pain. I knew I had to dig down and fight this guy with just my left hand. I did that for a couple of rounds and I think I did pretty good. I had to throw my right hand to show him I wasn't too hurt. I did what I had to do because I'm a fighter."

In the tenth round Rodriguez uncorked the most meaningful punch of the fight, a sharp right hand that put Alvarez on the seat of his pants. The two-point round would prove to be the difference between a draw and a unanimous decision win.

Seeking to close out the show with an emphatic final round stoppage, Rodriguez exposed himself to a counter flurry from Alvarez that left him blind in the right eye and panic stricken.

"I almost had him out before I got thumbed in the eye. I was pretty much blind from that point on. All I could see was a black shadow. It was a very different experience for me."

"He's growing and becoming more mature," his manager Hoffman said. "He's learning how to deal with adversity, changing his plans. His boxing always improves; The more he works at it, the better he gets."

Luckily for Team Rodriguez, x-rays have so far shown no fractures in his right hand. After consulting with Dr. Charles Melone, an orthopaedic hand surgeon based out of Manhattan, their worst fears have been laid to rest. At least for now.

"We have to go back to Dr. Melone on the 25th," Hoffman says. "By then, the swelling at the area where the wrist connects to the rest of the hand should subside. The doctor says that right at that spot he has tendinitis but it will go away after a few weeks if he doesn't hit anything. The therapist put the splint on it and that's where we are. The pain at the area has substantially decreased so everything is looking good.

"[Dr. Melone] asked me, 'When would you like to fight again?' I said, 'Sometime in June.' He said, 'Just don't sign a contract until after the 26th. Chances are you'll be safe.'"

With the win, Rodriguez is now rated #2, leap-frogging Isaac Hlatschwayo, whom he fought to a draw in South Africa in his previous fight. That match, also an IBF eliminator, was erroneously declared a win for the hometown boxer before the scores were recalculated and the correct verdict was given.

Hoffman, who has managed the likes of James Toney and Hasim Rahman over his 30-year career, claims that Hlatschwayo's team has been uncooperative in talks to set up a rematch but is now left with few choices.

"After we had the draw with Hlatschwayo, the IBF said, 'You guys should fight again because there's no outcome here.' We went out to get a date for that fight and they refused to come to America, figuring they wanted home ground. We said, 'OK, we'll come there.' I believe his promoter Golden Gloves in South Africa couldn't come to terms with Star Boxing.

"[Golden Gloves CEO] Berman insisted with the IBF that Hlatschwayo was the first available contender to fight [title-holder Joshua] Clottey. Clottey is now fighting [Miguel] Cotto. I don't know how the IBF is going to react to that.

"It'll be interesting to see who gets to fight for the title. This time they'll have to take us or we'll fight someone else for the title."

Rodriguez had a much briefer explanation. "I've been asking for a rematch for so long now and he just doesn't want that."

Ryan Songalia is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be reached at songaliaboxing@aol.com .