Delvin Rodriguez, Isaac Hlatshwayo Battle To a Draw Welterweights Delvin Rodriguez (23-2-2, 14KO) and Isaac Hlatshwayo (28-1-1, 10KO) battled to a 12 round draw on Monday night in Hlatshwayo's home country of South Africa. At stake in the bout was an IBF #1 ranking and future date with IBF welterweight champion Joshua Clottey. 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 came into Hlatshwayo's backyard and put on a great showing," said DeGuardia, CEO of Star Boxing. "He was the busier fighter, landed more punches, and dropped Hlatshwayo. I will give Hlatswhayo credit he is a tough fighter, and just kept coming all night long though." Under the rules of the IBF Rodriguez and Hlatshwayo will fight in a rematch immediately.
An immediate rematch too huh.. That means Clottey won't have to fight a mandatory for another while..
Have any of our WW champions had a fight recently? I love how boxings hottest division has pretty much decided to take a year off.
hlatswayo... a puncher~?? he wasnt a puncher at lightweight.... I guess issac is lucky he got delvin and not bonsu.... and also by the sound of it, delvin probably should have won... but i'll have to watch for myself... Can anybody say ESPN
Clottey was gonna fight Marg in November........... Change of plans... Apparently Margo and Jin Mosley have a fight in January... Berto fought Forbes, and i think he's waitin on a mandatory which might be Collazo somehow... Paul is supposedly dropping his belt so Cotto/Jennings are gonna fight for that... Doesn't mean the hottest division is quiet... Bonsu and Baldomir fight real soon.... Shamone Alvarez and Terrence Cauthen just fought Cintron/Ndou just happened the fight that started this thread... the immediate rematch... Abregu, a fighter Baldomir trains is fighting David Estrada.... Mike Jones and Rock Allen will be on Telefutura soon... I think Soto-Karass is in line for a Cotto fight or a WBO title eliminator but a fight with him wont be too far from now..... I like this division...
Jin TKO Margo in 5 Cotto is facing a proverbial can in Michael Jennings in his comeback fight. It's not a bad fight for Cotto in a comeback but Jennings is a title contender? Oy vey. Margo and Mosley have been in talks to fight since October...nothing announced yet. We keep hearing Margarito and Mosley are in talks but I honestly won't believe it until it happens. Clottey's mandatory opponents just had a ****ing draw (Hilariously enough) and he really has no fight up on the horizon. Berto DID beat Forbes (a 135 lber)...but is in talks of potentially going down to 140 and doesn't seem ready to step up and fight his mandatory in Collazo. Cintron did beat Ndou but failed to KO a guy whose best weight is 140 and whose way over the hill. Paul Williams is moving up to 154. Quintana is in puerto rico playing baseball in a field somewhere. Hlatswayo and Rodriguez are going to rematch a fight that I'm sure nobody wants to see. Everything seems to be revolved around Cotto-Margo 2 in June/July...but what about the mean time? Nothing doing there. Clottey, Williams, Berto, Quintana and the rest all seem to treading water...and thus the hottest division in boxing has now gone mild.
