"I had the opportunity to face Trout and Trout is a very seasoned guy. This guyÂ…guys don't really realize how quick his feet are and how smart he is as a boxer until you get in the ring with him. I think early on, he's going to give Canelo...look, he's going to have him off balance and mess him up a little bit. It all depends if Trout can stick to the plan, because I know the plan is not to stay in front of Canelo too much. I know that he is probably planning to do what he does best, which is move around and use his boxing ability. Which, if he can do that and stick to the plan, I see him giving Canelo a lot of trouble and coming out successful," stated jr. middleweight contender Delvin Rodriguez, who talked about his latest victory, the upcoming clash between Austin Trout and Saul "Canelo" Alvarez, and much more during a recent visit to FightHype Radio. Check it out!
FR: Delvin, what's up my man?
DR: Everything is good. I'm getting in shape and ready and I'm anxious to get right back into the ring.
FR: You're coming off of a fight with a guy who in 30 plus fights was undefeated, but he definitely hadn't fought the caliber of opposition that you had fought. Did you feel going in that would be the difference?
DR: No doubt, definitely. As soon as I stepped into the ringÂ…first of all, I could just tell. He was an undefeated guy, but like you said, he had never fought a guy on my level. I fight who they put in front of me. That's the way I have been doing it for a while. Whoever the promoter thinks I should fight and brings to the table, that's who I'm gonna fight. But I do want to fight the type of guys that's gonna take me to the next level. That's what I want next, something that's gonna put me in line to go for a title once again.
FR: After the 2nd round, it appeared the fight was over. There was some miscommunication between the ref and doctor. Was it mentally tough to get yourself back into fighting mode because you had already celebrated and everything?
DR: Well, I was very surprised the fight wasn't stopped. The guy was getting hit with solid and strong punches. I gotta give him credit because he took some solid punches, not just to the head, but to the body as well. I was really digging to the body and anytime I hit anyone to the body the way I was hitting this kid, they have not been able to take that punch and he took many of them. But it was nothing to get right back into it. I was in control of the fight and it was a whole different level for him and a level that he was not used to seeing.
FR: You have been in there with Austin Trout. I'm not sure how much you know about Canelo, but how do you see this thing playing out?
DR: I had the opportunity to face Trout and Trout is a very seasoned guy. This guyÂ…guys don't really realize how quick his feet are and how smart he is as a boxer until you get in the ring with him. I think early on, he's going to give Canelo...look, he's going to have him off balance and mess him up a little bit. It all depends if Trout can stick to the plan, because I know the plan is not to stay in front of Canelo too much. I know that he is probably planning to do what he does best, which is move around and use his boxing ability. Which, if he can do that and stick to the plan, I see him giving Canelo a lot of trouble and coming out successful. But if he does stay in front of Canelo too much, I believe that Canelo probably wears him down in the later rounds. To me, this fight is going to come down to who can use their master plan better.
FR: The fight that you had with Trout was a very odd fight, and even though he got the victory, there weren't very many fireworks in that fight. And then he turns around and fights Cotto and looks like a totally different animal. Is that just a matter of your style and his style clashing or were both of you guys off that night? How would you explain that?
DR: I believe it was a combination of both. Anybody that knows a little bit about boxing knows that styles make fights. For me, I know, and believe me, I have corrected my mistake in my mind already, but I know what my major mistake was, which was I was waiting for the precise moment instead of making the fight and attacking. No matter what, I was waiting for a precise moment and that's what made for a boring fight because that's Trout's style. His style is to box from the outside and set up from the outside and I kind of fell into his game of waiting for him instead of attacking.
FR: Your win definitely got you back in there as a top contender. Do you guys have an idea of when you are coming back or who you are targeting or is there someone out there who you definitely know you want to fight?
DR: Like I said, I'm in a tough position right now because not too many people out there want to fight me, but at the same time, I don't want to fight anyone that's below me because where am I going? I'm not trying to go backwards; I'm trying to go forwards. So I'm in a tough position right now, but I'm sitting down with my promoter and I will say to him that I want to fight somebody that will put me in position; a better position. I don't want to fight anybody underneath me. But we will see; there are a lot of names out there at 154 that I would love to fight. It's all a matter of if their promoter wants to take the fight, but our plan is around May, we just have to secure an opponent and hopefully that comes soon.
FR: I'm sure it's frustrating to have guys that don't want to fight you, but how do you work around that? Is that something where you just sit and hope somebody steps up or is there things that you can be active about to put yourself in the position to get these guys to fight you, like saying you would take a big fight for less money and stuff like that?
DR: That' when a promoter comes in hand and has to do his job and work and come to an agreement with a different promoter. But I will take any fight. I understand the sport and I put myself in a position where I gotta fight whoever comes, but sometimes I may have to fight for a little less money than what I asked for and I'm fine with that because I gotta pay for my mistake, like when I fought Trout, and that's how it is. That's how the game is, you know, but what I want to do is go forward and fight somebody that is on top of me and someone who could bring me to that next level. And there are a lot of good names out there at 154 and I'm happy with that because I know that the division is really hot right now and somebody will come up and somebody will want to fight.
FR: This is your fourth or fifth fight at 154 now. I take it you are a lot more comfortable at this weight now. Can you physically tell how much of a better fighter you are there or does it still kind of feel the same?
DR: No, there is no doubt about that. I feel much stronger and I can go 12 rounds non-stop. I can go to war and I feel very strong at the end of the fight because my weight is right and we train right, we're eating right, and we have the discipline to maintain ourselves between fights. Boxing is a hard sport, man, and you can't play with it. You gotta keep yourself in shape at all times and remain disciplined and that's what I do. I feel stronger than ever. And like I told everybody my last fight, I had known what my mistake was and I wanted to go back to the Delvin Rodriguez that used to fight from the beginning of the first bell to the end. And that's what everybody is going to see from now on. I'm ready to fight whoever comes forward.
FR: Going into your last fight against George, you stopped him in the 6th round I think or something like that, but going into that fight, were you expecting it to be as easy as you made it look? Were you expecting that type of performance when you went into the fight or were you expecting something totally different?
DR: I knew that he was going to fall right into my trap and I knew he was going to come forward because he was an undefeated kid that was knocking people out with one punch, so he was very confident. He had never faced someone of my level, so I wasn't even thinking of what he was going to do. I just put it in my mind to go back to throwing the combinations like I used to do, go forward, and just go for it. I wanted to do what I do best and that's go for it, fight, and put my combinations together. The thing on my mind was when the bell rings, I'm going to go at him and show him he doesn't belong in the same ring as me.
FR: You have had a couple of close calls and some that didn't go your way. Is that something that you think about going into fights? I know you are not supposed to go looking for knockouts, but when you're in there, is that something that's actually on your mind; like I hope I can catch this guy so it don't go to the judges?
DR: To be honest with you, I never depend on one punch like I hope I can catch this guy with this, but I know myself and I know if I put my combinations together and let my hands go like I usually doÂ…trust me, if you get hit with like 3 or 4 of them punches, he's not gonna be standing. He's going to be out or the referee will be stepping in and you saw that happen in my last fight. But I gotta stick to that. I gotta stick to that plan of going forward and throwing my combinations, and I'm not trying to say I'm going to go crazy and knock guys out in the first round, but I just want to put my combinations together; different moves and stepping to the side and come back with combinations and if I get that rhythm going, which I plan to do because I'm working very hard at it, I'm very confident that I can get right back to a title.
FR: Is Ishe Smith or Gabriel Rosado guys you would like to fight in the near future?
DR: Yeah! There are a lot of guys in the mix right now, but it's really hard to get in a position to fight guys. Let's say this Canelo and Trout fight; it's gonna be hard to get an opportunity because I already fought Trout. I don't know if they will ever give me an opportunity to fight him again. Hopefully if he wins, I can fight the other guy; Canelo or Trout. But I know how promoters work and how they think and they not gonna just throw those guys in; they just not gonna do it. I'm gonna have to work really hard. But there are guys underneath them and I would love to fight. I will fight Kirkland; I'll fight Molina, Gabe Rosado. I will fight any of those guys because those are guys that will get me back to a title.
FR: How would you go about beating Gabriel Rosado?
DR: Well, I can't say that. He might be listening (laughing).
FR: Who do you think is the weakest 154-pound champion right now?
DR: The weakest? Wow. I would have to think about that because, like I said, there are some tough fighters there; that's why it's one of the hottest divisions right now. I couldn't just tell you that right off hand. There are a lot of good fighters out there right now and I can't really say because everybody got different styles and that's what's so great about boxing. You can put the guy that you think is the weakest link out there and he will beat the guy that you think is better than him because of the different styles, so I can't really say who is the weakest link.
[ Follow Percy Crawford on Twitter @MrLouis1ana ]