Top Rank's Crystina Poncher caught up with junior middleweight contender Delvin Rodriguez, who faces Pawel Wolak this Saturday in a rematch of their July 15 Fight of the Year contender. Wolak vs Rodriguez II will open the Cotto vs Margarito pay-per-view card.
On his first fight at MSG, on HBO, and on pay-per-view:
"Very excited, man. We did put in work, we've been working so hard for a long time. So many years, all my life. And finally, we go from ESPN to HBO pay-per-view, right in my backyard pretty much in New York. I have a great fanbase over here, and a lot of people coming from Connecticut. So it's so exciting, man. It motivated me so much to train even harder for this fight."
[ Related: Wolak, Rodriguez Battle to Fight of the Year Contender ]
On the first fight with Pawel Wolak:
"The first fight, I was out of the ring for about a year. So it did take me a couple rounds, I'll say three or four rounds, to get into the motion, get into a rhythm, get into the fighting rhythm. But we've been working hard. We're ready to go. This time there's going to be no four rounds to warm up."
On using his height and reach advantage:
"For the first fight that we had, we practiced, we practiced. But boxing is something you have to practice over and over, it's repetition. We're getting it down. I see it better than the first fight. We've been practicing, using our height. It's gonna show."
On this fight living up to the hype:
"There's no doubt about that. It's the styles. He's a warrior, he comes forward. I'm a guy that can box, I can trade with him if I wanna trade. It makes great fights. Two different styles that make great fights. So I know the second one's gonna be as good, might be even better than the first one. You never know."