Wolak Fight Friday True Crossroads Test for Delvin Rodriguez

This Friday night, long-time welterweight contender, and former world title challenger, Delvin Rodriguez, will step up in weight, and look to stake his claim amongst the elite of the jr. middleweight division, when he takes on red-hot, all-action, Pawel “Raging Bull” Wolak (29-1, 19KO's) in the main event bout of the evening on ESPN's “Friday Night Fights”.  The bout, which will take place at New York City's famed Roseland Ballroom, is promoted by Joe DeGuardia's Star Boxing and is scheduled for ten rounds.

Boxing is a sport like no other.  All it takes is one night, even just one punch, to change everything in your career.  Rodriguez, who has suffered some bitter, and highly controversial defeats the past few years, see's his fight against Wolak as just that.

“This is my opportunity to erase everything bad that has happened the past few years, and put myself right back into the spotlight,” stated Rodriguez.  “I can't change what happened in the past, that's something that I don't have any control over and honestly I'm tired of talking about it.  What I do have control over though is the fight on July 15^th.  A win against Pawel, who is coming off the biggest win of his career, and is rated in all of the four sanctioning bodies, puts me right back into the mix, and there is no way that I am letting that opportunity pass me by.”

After a stretch of fights that saw Rodriguez come up on the wrong end of some highly controversial, if not out-right robbery decisions, Rodriguez decided he need a change, a breathe of fresh air.  That change came in Rodriguez decision to completely revamp his team, splitting ways with long-time trainer Lou Fusco and hiring Fernely Felix.  Rodriguez also brought in a strength and conditioning coach Matt Petren, to make sure he made the move from welterweight to jr. middleweight properly.   While Rodriguez admits the move from Fusco was hard, it was something he had to do.

“I was very close with Lou, so it was a very hard decision for me to bring in Fernely, but Lou was great about everything, and there were no hard feelings.  I just needed a change.  Fernely and I have known each other for awhile, and we hit it off right away.  This has been one of the best training camps I have ever had.  I'm bigger, stronger, and faster than I ever have been before, and come July 15^th, not only will Pawel find that out, but everyone in the jr. middleweight division will find out that I am here, and I'm coming for those belts.”

The show is promoted by Joe DeGuardia's Star Boxing, with the Rodriguez-Wolak bout promoted by Star Boxing, in association with Top Rank.  Tickets are priced at $50, $75, $100 and $200 and can be purchased by calling Star Boxing at (718) 823-2000, or visiting www.starboxing.com. Tickets may also be purchased through any Ticketmaster outlet or simply by Clicking Here.  Doors open at 6:30PM, with the first bout scheduled for 7:00PM.  ESPN will begin live coverage at 9PM ET.