SecondsOut.com - By Jerry Glick. In their first fight they went ten "Fight of the Year" rounds that is fast
becoming one of those iconic fights that will be remembered by those
who saw it. This time around Delvin Rodriguez and Pawel Wolak battled
another ten furious rounds for the vacant IBA intercontinental
junior-Middleweight Title, but while it was an action packed fight, it
was mostly one sided.
Rodriguez, from Danbury, CT, appeared to have come up with a good game
plan. To prevent Wolak from crowding him, as he did back in July, 2011,
he gave up his height advantage and fought out of a crouch which made
it more difficult for his Polish junior-middleweight foe to pull a Joe
Frazier and getting inside to lay on the taller Rodriguez’ chest.
With
no place to ply his trade, Wolak, from Mt. Arlington, NJ, was a sitting
duck for the combinations that Rodriguez threw at him. By the third
frame Wolak bled from the nose; and as the rounds passed Wolak’s eyes
began to swell, but not to the extent at which they swelled last time
out.
With the stocky Pole ducking in front of him, Rodriguez,
153 pounds, threw chopping rights and head snapping uppercuts as Wolak’s
mouth filled with blood possibly from a cut inside. Rodriguez
outfought Wolak, 153 ½ pounds, all the way. In the tenth and final
round he had Wolak in deep trouble. He battered the durable full time
roofer (when not in training), nearly dropping him as referee David
Fields looked on very closely. He would have been justified if he
stopped the fight, but it was almost over so he allowed to go to the
scorecards where the Judges tallied 98-92, 98-91, and 100-90, all for
Rodriguez who improved to 26-5-3 (14 KOs), while brave Wolak fell to
29-2-1 (19 KOs).
**OTHER FIGHTS**
Glen Tapia, 153 ¼,
Passaic, NJ, 12-0 (6 KOs), came out aggressively in the first round and
outpunched opponent Mike Ruiz, 153 ½, New York, NY, 15-6 (7 KOs),
driving him to the ropes. In the next round Ruiz step up the pace, had
Tapia’s nose bleeding and was turning the fight around in his favor when
the taller Tapia suddenly opened fire with a flurry that ended with a
hard right and left hook that caused Ruiz to crumble to the canvas where
referee Eddie Claudio reach the ten count at 2:27 of the second of four
rounds.
Mike Lee, 177, Chicago, IL, 8-0 (5 KOs), used his
advantages in speed and skill to breakdown then knockout Allen Medina,
174 ¼, Ft. Lupton, CO, 9-20-1 KO), at :55 of the fourth and final
round.
Seanie Monaghan, 176, Long Beach, NY, 11-0 (8 KOs), showed
a lot of improvement in dispatching Santos Martinez, 175 ½, Adrian, IL,
2-3 (2 KOs), after battering him in round one in which referee Ricky
Gonzalez declared a knockdown when the ropes held Martinez up. In the
second a combination of punches dropped Martinez for the count at 2:56.
Unbeaten Hanzel Martinez, 115 ½, Tijuana, Mexico, 16-0 (13
KOs), appeared to batter rugged opponent Felipe Castaneda, 115 ¼, San
Antonio, TX, 6-4-1 (3 KOs), for most of the fight, but the judges saw it
as a close, majority four for Martinez by scores of 38-38, and 39-37
twice for Martinez. Ricky Gonzalez refereed.
In the show
opener, Samuel Figueroa, 145, San Juan, PR, 2-0 (1 KO), dropped Latwon
Halsey, 145 ½, Newark, NJ, 0-1-1, in the third round on his way to split
four by scores of 38-37 and 39-36 for Figueroa, and 38-37 for Halsey.
Claudio refereed.
