DELVIN RODRIGUEZ vs MIKE ARNAOUTIS

Friday Night Fights returns after a week away with an excellent welterweight match when Delvin Rodriguez defends his USBA title against Mike Arnaoutis, who moves up from 140 pounds, in a 12-rounder at the Mohegan Sun in Connecticut.

Both fighters are promoted by Joe DeGuardia, of Star Boxing, who points out that sometimes boxers under the same promotional banner have to be matched against each other to give fans the best fights.

Rodriguez is boxing on home territory at the Mohegan Sun but Arnaoutis is expected to have sizeable support from the Greek community in New Jersey, where he lives.

Each man has been talking a great fight. Rodriguez, 29, says he is going into 2010 with a new attitude — to finish off opponents when he hurts them. He says that in his last two fights, against Isaac Hlatshwayo and Rafal Jackiewicz, he let his opponents off the hook. From now on he promises to close the show when the other man is ready to go.

Arnaoutis, 30, talks of feeling stronger and punching harder now that he is no longer struggling to make weight. “Training and my preparation for this fight couldn't have been better,” he said in a statement released through Star Boxing. “I have had 106 rounds of sparring in my training preparation for this fight and my whole training camp has been fantastic. I am also much more comfortable fighting at 147 pounds, because I don’t have to starve myself any more; I’m really glad that I listened to my team and moved to welterweight.”

He has added a strength and conditioning coach to make sure he puts the weight on the right way. “The strength and conditioning has helped me out a lot,” Arnaoutis said. “I feel very strong and everyone has also been telling me that I look bigger and stronger. Physically and mentally, I am in the best shape of my life, and everyone will see that come fight night in the way that I will beat Rodriguez.”

By the sound of it, neither man expects the fight to go the distance.

I think that Rodriguez has to be clearly favoured. He is a welterweight meeting a fighter moving up in weight, and his last two fights were close losses in a world title bout and a championship eliminator while Arnaoutis has not been in good form at all.

Arnaoutis was blown out in two rounds by Victor Ortiz 13 months ago, then struggled to beat Doel Carrasquillo, a Puerto Rican from Pennsylvania who has lost his last eight fights, while in his last fight he lost a split decision to the capable but less experienced Tim Coleman.

Perhaps Arnaoutis will be fighting better at his new weight, though. When he was boxing at the top of his form, Arnaoutis was always a quick, sharp, fighter with good punching power from his southpaw posture, and Rodriguez has not always shown a reliable chin.

In his last fight, against Jackiewicz in Poland, Rodriguez looked poised for victory when he scored a knockdown in the sixth round. He failed to finish his wobbly opponent, though, and Jackiewicz came back well, outworking Rodriguez in some close rounds. Jackiewicz even had Rodriguez looking a bit unsteady in the 10th round. Rodriguez had that fight in his grasp but let victory elude him. He will not want to make that mistake again.

Rodriguez has to be considered the puncher in Friday’s fight, and he is the taller boxer. He had a very difficult fight against the southpaw Shamone Alvarez, though, and it is easy to envisage Arnaoutis giving Rodriguez problems, too, as he hits and moves and gets off with snappy counters. This is assuming, though, that the move up in weight is going to help Arnaoutis — if he doesn’t improve on his recent performances, he won’t win on Friday.

I make this a highly competitive fight, but Rodriguez seems the more determined type of individual, mentally a bit stronger, and he might be willing to dig deeper than his opponent. Each man has shown technical ability, but I think that Rodriguez’s superior punching power might make the difference. I can picture Rodriguez pushing Arnaoutis into a cautious type of fight. Arnaoutis might have his moments with counters but if he starts thinking defensively, which has happened in the past, he could let too many rounds slip away from him.

A nip and tuck type of fight looks likely, with Rodriguez pressing the issue with a bit more vigour and landing the more eye-catching punches to earn a unanimous decision.