"I mean, it was a draw and I was expecting a win. I felt that I won, but like you said, it did give us a lot of attention and I believe a lot of good things are going to come out of this fight. I believe that I showed the public that at 154, I was stronger and faster, just like I said I would be, and I belong facing top guys. Forget about facing guys with no names anymore, or guys that nobody really recognizes. I think I deserve a chance to go to HBO or Showtime and face top contenders," stated jr. middleweight contender Delvin Rodriguez, who talked about his future plans after his exciting and entertaining draw with Pawel Wolak, a fight that's sure to be a candidate for Fight of the Year. Check out what else he had to say!
PC: Congratulations on a helluva fight. How were you scoring the fight in your head?
DR: Thanks. I thought I won at least 6 or 7 rounds. I give my respect to the guy [Pawel Wolak]; he kept coming, but it was just the way I thought that he was going to fight. He was going to stay on top of me, but there was no clean punches that really landed. I hit him with some good clean combinations. There was a time where I hit him with a whole four-punch combination.
PC: The perception to a lot of people, and especially judges sometimes, is that the guy coming forward is winning the rounds. Do you feel like you were a victim of that thought process?
DR: Oh, definitely. I just feel some of these judges have never had leather on their hands, let alone a pair of boxing gloves. I guess that's what they see is the guy coming forward, but what counts is the punch; the punch is what does the damage. I think it showed on his face how I shut that eye. Both of his eyes were swollen and his whole face, and that's what counts. I hit him with some hard and accurate punches and that's what counts. I threw a lot of combinations and I feel that's what they should look at and not whether or not the guy is coming forward.
PC: It's gotta be a bitter sweet moment for you because although the decision was a draw, it got both of you guys a ton of exposure.
DR: Yeah, correct. I mean, it was a draw and I was expecting a win. I felt that I won, but like you said, it did give us a lot of attention and I believe a lot of good things are going to come out of this fight. I believe that I showed the public that at 154, I was stronger and faster, just like I said I would be, and I belong facing top guys. Forget about facing guys with no names anymore, or guys that nobody really recognizes. I think I deserve a chance to go to HBO or Showtime and face top contenders.
PC: How did you feel at 154 pounds?
DR: I felt stronger. I'm 6' tall, so that's where I belong, at 154. I feel stronger there and I believe it showed. I went 10 rounds with a really tough fighter and if you see the fight, in the 10th round, I was the stronger fighter. I was the guy throwing punches and connecting with combinations.
PC: You told me before the fight that his pressure wouldn't fold you due to the way you were preparing for that fight. At what point during the fight did you realize that you may have to abandon your boxing a little bit and just bite down and go to war?
DR: Right at the beginning. Going into the fight, I knew that he wasn't going to stop and that he was going to come forward, so that's what we prepared for. We prepared for 12 rounds, even though we knew we were only going to fight 10 rounds. We knew that he was a very determined guy and he was a guy that was going to come forward all night and try to stay on top of me and we prepared for that. It was good because I learned how to calm myself down and continue with the same pace all night throughout the fight.
PC: At one point in between rounds, the doctors were taking a real close look at him. Did you think they were going to stop the fight?
DR: Ah man, I believe after the 8th or 9th round, the fight should have been stopped. I believe the referee wanted to stop the fight and he felt like the fight should have been stopped, but I don't know, it was a tough fight and they were kinda going back and forth with each other and they didn't make the decision to stop the fight, but it was looking bad. It was looking bad for the guy and if you look at my face the next day, my face was clean. My body is very sore (laughing), but I can only imagine how he was feeling right afterwards with his eye being the way it was. If I feel this way and my face is clean, I can only imagine how he felt a few days afterwards.
PC: Sometimes fights that we think are going to be special really don't live up to the hype. At what point did you realize this was going to be a special fight?
DR: I would say after the 2nd or 3rd round, when I was trying to establish the jab and he kept coming forward and not caring about getting hit with it. I said, "Okay, you know what? I have to forget about the jab. The jab is not going to do anything to this guy. I'm going to have to get close, give myself a little room every once in awhile to throw combinations and my hard punches, and try to damage his face." I finally realized a jab wasn't going to do anything to this guy. I couldn't depend on the jab because it wasn't going to do anything, so I had to let him get close to me a little bit, push him off, and turn him and then throw my combinations.
PC: I would love to see a rematch on Showtime or HBO. I'm sure you would as well. Is a rematch the goal for you?
DR: Ah man, yeah! A rematch would be great, but we need to get paid. In a rematch, I'm looking to get paid and I believe some good things are going to happen from this fight.
PC: I appreciate the effort you guys gave. I wish you the best of luck in your next fight, hopefully a rematch. Is there anything you want to say in closing?
DR: I always gotta thank my fans. I have the greatest fans out there. They gave me so much support. I think it was a great fight, as I thought it would be, and the rematch would be just as good or better. I want to thank all of the fans for all of their support, as well as Elite Boxing Enterprises and my manager, A.J. Galante.
[ Follow Percy Crawford on Twitter @MrLouis1ana ]