Both men agreed to a rematch after. Amen! Let's do it again, and triple, nay, quadruple their purse. Maybe we can claw back some money from Klitschko and Haye?
They earned every damned dime of their too-small paychecks, did Delvin Rodriguez and Pawel Wolak, who left copious blood and sweat on the floor in the main event of ESPN's Friday Night Fights, which unfolded at NY's Roseland Ballroom. They didn't make millions, or get a downside guarnatee, or a cut of PPV profits. No, they did it because they have heart and pride galore, God bless them. And since the rules don't let judges award both men a "W" the arbiters tried to hash out a victoe; they handed in their cards, and happily, didn't drop the ball, they deemed it a majority draw. I had Rodriguez ahead, because he had the quicker hands and landed the sharper blows during ten rounds of trench warfare. But Julie Lederman had it 95-95, Steve Weisfeld 95-95 while Tom Schreck had a card I agree most with, 97-93, for Rodriguez.
In the first, Wolak was in his face from the National Anthem onward. Del, who'd been off for a year after a run of losses and controversial decisions, did well to smother him some, move out of range some, slip some, clinch a bit.
In the second, Del ripped smartly to the body. The torso was open, as Wolak makes no bones about coming in squared up.
In the third, Del had a great frame. He landed right uppercuts, right crosses, left hooks to the body. In the fourth, Wolak didn't change his gameplan an iota. He was all forward movement, even when he'd catch uppercuts coming in. Swelling on his right eye didn't seem to bother him much.
In the fifth, it looked like Del's legs slowed some. Wolak will do that to you..The Jerseyite took the sixth. In the seventh, swelling on Wolak's right eye looked beyond ugly. It was a golfball glued to his head, compliments of Del's left hook. The doc took a hard look at it after the round, and his cutman took it down a bit. "It's ugly, but I don't mind," said ref Steve Smoger as he assesses the golf ball.
In the eighth, the two gave no quarter. The cutman had two Enswells on the eye after the frame. Del's corner told him to target the eye. In round nine, Del didn't go overboard on the left hook. But he landed the quicker, cleaner shots. By now, he was unable to move enough to reset, and make Wolak chase. In the tenth round, the one-eyed Jerseyite came forward, but of course. He was the busier man the first two thirds of the round, for sure. The last 15 seconds was pretty stellar stuff. We'd go to the cards.