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Tonight at the Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, CT, it’s a battle of the nearly men as Isaac Hlatshwayo and Delvin Rodriguez rematch for the vacant IBF welterweight title.
The two clashed last November in Hlatshwayo’s homeland of South Africa in a draw and now things move to Connecticut resident Rodriguez’s territory.
Both fighters have good records and have impressive achievements on their resume with Hlatshwayo having been in the bigger fights to date but of course that won’t mean anything once the bell rings for this anticipated return bout.
Hlatshwayo, 28-1-1 (10), won the South African lightweight title in 2002 and made five successful defenses before winning the IBO belt in 2005 with a points verdict over future IBF champ Cassius Baloyi.
The biggest win of Hlatshwayo’s career came one fight later when he won a split decision in America against future unified champion Nate Campbell in an IBO defense.
In 2006, Hlatshwayo stepped up to light welter but was canvassed three times enroute to losing on points to future world champ Kendall Holt for the NABO crown before going up another weight division to win the IBO welter trophy against Joseph Makaringe.
After two defenses over Aussie Robert Medley, Hlatshwayo met Rodriguez in an IBF eliminator the resulted in the draw in November.
Rodriguez had gone into that bout after rebuilding his career following a stoppage loss to spoiler Jesse Feliciano in 2007, losing the USBA welter title in the process.
Rodriguez regained the USBA belt with a stoppage victory over Oscar Diaz later that year, leading into the initial Hlatshwayo bout. The Dominican Republic born 29 year old bounced back in March and pounded out a close but unanimous points victory over Shamone Alvarez to keep the USBA title and win a IBF eliminator.
Now Rodriguez is vowing revenge after feeling that he had really won the first Hlatshwayo bout and will have the advantage of having fought in March while Hlatshwayo hasn’t been in the ring since the draw with Rodriguez.
Of tonight’s two combatants, Hlatshwayo has the greater experience and won the bigger fights but he had his best days at lightweight and as proven by Holt, really doesn’t belong in top class at light welter, let alone welterweight.
But is Rodriguez a top class welter? Unlike Hlatshwayo, the American hasn’t been in with any elite fighters in order to prove his standing in that category but if he wins the IBF tonight at Mohegan Sun, there should be ample opportunity to do so in his future.
