Delvin Rodriguez

Bio Data

Delvin Rodriguez was born on May 4, 1980 in Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic.  Rodriguez (25-5-2, 14KO) is currently ranked as the number fourteenth jr. middleweight in the IBF world ratings.

July 30th, 2010, Rodriguez took on Ashley Theophane in the main event on ESPN's "Friday Night Fights" at the Buffalo Run Casino in Miami, OK.  In a fight that Rodriguez completely dominated, and that nearly everyone who witnessed felt he won easily, Theophane was awarded a majority decision.

"Rodriguez has been on the wrong end of some questionable decisions, but this one takes the cake, as he was robbed in the "Friday Night Fights" main event to fall to 2-3-1 in his past six bouts. He probably should be 5-1. Rodriguez, 30, a Dominican Republic native who grew up in Danbury, Conn., totally dominated the first half of the fight. Although England's Theophane, 29, won some of the late rounds as Rodriguez began to tire, there is no way he won six rounds. None.

Poor Joe Tessitore and Teddy Atlas, the ESPN2 commentators, who were more or less at a loss for words over this head-scratcher. It was a pretty good fight, but it didn't look all that difficult to score. And the CompuBox stats also backed up Rodriguez, who landed 194 of 767 shots to Theophane's 136 of 523. Rodriguez's shots sure looked like they had more steam on them as well, such as the big right hand with which he hurt Theophane in the ninth round." - ESPN.com boxing analyst, Dan Rafael. 

With the loss Rodriguez dropped to 25-5-2, 14KO's while Theophane improved to 27-4-1, 7KO's.

April 2nd, 2010, Rodriguez got himself back into title contention with a dominating twelve round unanimous decision victory over Mike Arnaoutis at the Mohegan Sun Resort and Casino.  The fight was the main event bout of the evening on that week's ESPN "Friday Night Fights" telecast.

Rodriguez worked behind a piston-like jab to set up his straight rights and left hooks and keep Arnaoutis off balance for much of the contest.  In the end scores were 119-108, 118-119, 117-110 all for Rodriguez.

On November 27th, 2009, Rodriguez traveled to Poland to take on the countries native son, Rafal Jackiewicz, in an official IBF welterweight title eliminator.  In a fight that saw Rodriguez completely dominate in punch stat numbers, including throwing over 700 more punches than Jackiewicz, and dropping the Pole hard in the 6th, Jackiewicz was awarded a close and highly controversial (if not flat-out robbery) unanimous decision.

On August 1st, 2009 Rodriguez, the IBF #2 rated welterweigh, battled IBF #3 rated Isaac Hlatshwayo for the vacant IBF Welterweight Championship of the World. The fight was a rematch of their highly entertaining draw that took place back in November of last year.

The fight started well for Rodriguez as he was the much busier fighter, landing clean shots to both the head and body of the South African Hlatshwayo. In the second, a right hand staggered Hlatshwayo, but he showed guts as he continued to press forward, taking some big shots from Rodriguez in the process.

There was good two way action in the middle rounds, with Rodriguez looking to box as Hlatshwayo pressed forward looking to fight on the inside. Rodriguez's right hand continued to connect from the outside and the effects began to show on Hlatshwayo's face as his left eye began closing.

The action continued into the twelfth and final round with both fighters eagerly exchanging toe-to-toe, not wanting to leave the decision up to the judge's scorecards.

In the end judge Glen Feldman had the bout 115-113 for Rodriguez but was overturned by judge Tony Paolillo who had it 116-112 and judge Isaac Tshabalala who scored it 116-113 for Hlatshwayo.

It was a very tough loss for Rodriguez to swallow as he seemingly did enough once again to get the decision win over Hlatshwayo. Unfortunately the judges didn't agree yet again. With the loss Rodriguez drops to 24-3-2, 14KO while Hlatshwayo improves to 29-1-1, 10KO.

On March 6th, 2009, Rodriguez took on fellow Star Boxing stablemate, Shamone "The Truth" Alvarez (20-1, 11KO) at the Mohegan Sun Resort and Casino in Uncasville, CT.  The bout was aired live on ESPN2 "Friday Night Fights".  At stake were both the USBA welterweight championship, as well as the number two ranking in the IBF world ratings.

Alvarez started fast, charging right at the defending champion Rodriguez while Rodriguez looked to establish his jab and box from the outside. A straight left hand briefly staggered Rodriguez mid way through the first round but that seemed to only wake up Rodriguez as he began connecting with his right hand from the outside.

The middle rounds saw each fighter land telling blows, rocking each other on more than one occasion. Every time it seemed as though Rodriguez would begin to develop a steady rhythm, Alvarez would land a big left hand from his southpaw stance.

As the rounds progressed on, Rodriguez seemed to be in control landing the harder punches from the outside, while Alvarez looked to close the distance with wide hooks, and straight lefts.

In the 11th round a straight right hand from Rodriguez dropped Alvarez but Alvarez seemed to be more stunned then actually hurt and fought back hard the rest of the round.

In the twelfth round Rodriguez stunned Alvarez, and went in for the kill throwing everything he had at Alvarez. With Rodriguez opening up Alvarez threw a perfect counter that rocked Rodriguez. With both fighters right eyes closing, they traded in the center of the ring until the final bell sounded.

After twelve grueling rounds, Rodriguez was awarded a close unanimous decision improving his record to (24-2-2, 14KO) while Alvarez dropped to (20-2, 11KO).

After moving to the U.S. when he was 10 years old, Delvin began to take an interest in boxing.  He began going to the local PAL gym in Danbury, CT on a regular basis and formed a bond with trainer Mike Salazar. 

After a promising amateur career which involved winning many national championships and tournaments, Delvin turned pro on January 30^th 2008, winning a four round unanimous decision. 

Delvin would go onto to hone his skills over the next 8 years, fighting a number of tough fights and gradually climbing his way up the Welterweight contender ladder.  Delvin, and renowned manager Stan Hoffman felt that it was time to start really making a push towards a Welterweight World Championship, and believed that Joe DeGuardia’s Star Boxing would be the team that could get him there. 

In 2007 Joe DeGuardia’s Star Boxing proudly announced the signing of one of the hottest up-and-coming prospects in boxing, red-hot Dominican welterweight boxer/puncher Delvin Rodriguez whose record at the time stood at an impressive 20-1-1, 12 KOs.

Naturally powerful with impressive boxing skills, the 26-year-old native of Santiago de los Caballeros, now living in Danbury, Connecticut, came to Star Boxing on a 10-fight winning streak, including 7 knockouts and had the boxing world buzzing.

“Delvin is the near future of the welterweight division and we’re happy he’s made the right decision for his career,” said Star Boxing CEO Joe DeGuardia. “He has all the tools to become world champion and the punching power to create the highlight-reel knockouts the fans love. We’ll make the moves to quickly put him in line for his first title shot.”

Rodriguez first came to prominence with a nationally televised all-time-classic knockdown of then undefeated and heavily favored Allen Conyers. On his way to scoring a dominating unanimous six-round decision, Rodriguez used a perfect left hook to send Conyers out of the ring, face first onto the concrete floor.

Showing constant improvement, he followed the victory up with other eye-catching stoppages over noteworthy opposition including Oba Carr conqueror Luther Smith, former world title challenger Virgil McClendon, and a USBA title-winning TKO 3 over Luis Hernandez.

On February 25th, 2009, Rodriguez thoroughly dominated previously unbeaten Troy Browning.  Rodriguez nearly pitched a shut out over the game Browning, winning by scores of 100-90, 100-90, 99-91.  Rodriguez, known for having knockout power in both hands, showed that he is by no means a one dimensional fighter.  Continuously throughout the night Delvin was able to use his crisp jab from the outside and easily outbox and outwork Browning.  Just when you thought Delvin was not looking to mix it up and exchange, he would fire off a four-five punch combination, bringing the roaring hometown crowd to their feet. 

On July 16th, 2008 Rodriguez took on fellow prospect Oscar Diaz (26-2, 12KO's) for the vacant USBA welterweight championship in Diaz's hometown of San Antonio, TX.  The bout was the main event on that weeks ESPN2's "Wednesday Night Fights".  The bout, as everyone had expected, was an exciting entertaining contest from start to finish.  Rodriguez boxed beautifully throughout the night, and just seemed to be too fast and too strong for the hometown favorite.  Rodriguez was on his way to a clear cut unanimous decision, when Diaz collapsed in his corner after the tenth round.

Rodriguez was the new USBA welterweight champion, but the victory was very bittersweet.  "I never want to see something like that happen to anyone," said Rodriguez immediately following the fight.  "I am excited but right now all I can really think about is Oscar and his family."

With the win Rodriguez improved his record to 23-2-1,14KO and also regained his USBA welterweight belt he once held.  Diaz dropped to 26-3 12KO. 

November 17th, 2008 Rodriguez took on Isaac Hltashwayo in Hlatshwayo's home country of South Africa.  The bout was for the #1 ranking in the IBF.

From the opening bell it was an entertaining fight as Hlatshwayo looked to press the action while the sharp shooting Rodriguez was content on firing off crisp combinations from the outside.

It was obvious that Rodriguez was the much superior boxer as he would throw beautiful three and four punch combinations from the outside and then tie Hlatshwayo up before the South African could fire back.

By the middle rounds the fight had become a classic boxer vs. brawler bout with Hlatshwayo taking four shots just to land one. While Rodriguez was the more accurate of the two, Hlatshwayo's wide shots brought loud reaction from his hometown crowd.

In the 9th round, just as the fight seemed to somewhat be turning Hlatshwayo's way, Rodriguez landed a picture perfect right hand right on the button that send Hlatshwayo down. Hlatshwayo showed his toughness though and he was able to get up and survive the round.

Rodriguez came out in the final two rounds looking to put Hlatshwayo away, not wanting the fight to go to the judges scorecards in his opponents backyard. Hlatshwayo hung tough though and was able to hold on and make it to the final bell. With the knockdown it seemed as though Rodriguez had done more then enough to pull out the decision. Unfortunately fighting in Hlatshwayo's home country seemed to play in his favor as Hlatshwayo was awarded a split decision victory over a very disappointed Rodriguez. Upon further review of the scorecards by Rodriguez's promoter Joe DeGuardia, it was revealed that there was a mistake made in the calculation in one of the judges scoring. Upon an intense review by both camps and IBF official Mahsan Scott, the fight was changed to its correct decision, a majority draw.

Delvin who is the proud father of a baby boy (Delvin Jr.) feels that he has the right team around him now and that there is no stopping him.  Every fight he has, he comes in one hundred percent physically and mentally ready, and it shows as he seems to improve from each fight to the next.