DELVIN RODRIGUEZ vs RAFAL JACKIEWICZ

Having lost by split decision to Isaac Hlatshwayo in August, Delvin Rodriguez promises to leave nothing to doubt when he meets Rafal Jackiewicz in an IBF welterweight championship eliminator in the lakeside city of Elk in north-eastern Poland on Friday.

Rodriguez was saying all the right things this week. “I’m going to look to knock him out, or give him a beating for the entire 12 rounds,” Rodriguez said in a statement issued by his promoter, Joe DeGuardia’s Star Boxing.

"You are going to see a new Delvin Rodriguez from here on out. I am going to be much more aggressive in my fights and while I won't go into a fight just looking for a knockout, if the opportunity comes you better believe I am going to jump all over it. I am going into these fights with a more aggressive mind state — I want to hurt you, and I am going to hurt you."

Rodriguez believes he did enough to beat Hlatshwayo in their fight at the Mohegan Sun in Connecticut, and he thought he won the first fight in South Africa, a gruelling battle that ended in a draw although Rodriguez scored the only knockdown.

"I am very bitter, I should be the champion right now and I'm not,” Rodriguez said. He says he feels that he made a mistake in the Hlatshwayo fights by easing back when he felt he had a commanding lead. “I can promise I won't make the same mistake against Jackiewicz,” Rodriguez said.

“I have had one of the best training camps of my life. He has never been stopped before. I’d like to be, and plan on being, the first person to do it."

Talking about it is one thing, doing it is another, but the 29-year-old Rodriguez does seem to have the right attitude heading into this fight. Rodriguez has some things in his favour. He’s the younger man by three years, he clearly has superior firepower, and as usual the 6ft boxer-puncher from Connecticut (though born in the Dominican Republic) will have height and reach advantages.

Jackiewicz isn't as classy looking as Rodriguez, but he is one of those overachievers who didn’t seem to be going anywhere in particular but, through perseverance and hard work, turned his career around.

There was a time when Jackiewicz looked distinctly average. He didn’t win a round against Michael Jennings in England five years ago, and there was a two-year spell when he managed only five wins in 12 bouts.

Sometimes fighters reapply themselves to boxing and take it more seriously than they did before. At other times they find a backer who provides the financial help that can allow a boxer to prepare himself better.

I do not know the circumstances surrounding Jackiewicz’s career turnaround, but he hasn’t lost in four years, and in his last three fights he has beaten the dangerous Jackson Osei Bonsu and two unbeaten boxers, Jan Zavek and Luciano Abis.

Jackiewicz’s win over Bonsu was unexpected. The Belgian-domiciled Ghanaian fighter was on a long winning run and had scored some spectacular KO wins, but Jackiewicz kept a tight defence and picked his punches, even scoring a knockdown on his way to a unanimous decision win.

Jackiewicz barely beat the German-based Jan Zavek in a fight that was one point on one card from being a draw. Zavek has never been regarded as one of Europe’s elite boxers and he has had a carefully matched career, but he held his own with Jackiewicz. I think that this fight showed Jackiewicz’s limitations; I would certainly pick Rodriguez to beat Zavek.

I did get to see Jackiewicz’s last fight, his unanimous decision win over the Italian, Luciano Abis, and noted that the Polish boxer was a solid and workmanlike, used the jab well and showed decent hand speed and good movement. He sneaked in the right hand every so often to body and head, kept his hands high and maintained a good workrate. I think you could safely call Jackiewicz an industrious fighter.

If this fight was at the Mohegan Sun I would like Rodriguez’s chances quite strongly. The location of the fight could be all important, though.

Jackiewicz seems to have struck a chord with the Polish people. The fighter who calls himself “Braveheart” has risen above expectations. He isn’t especially fast, he isn’t flashy or powerful, but he has got the best of out his abilities.

Fighting at home in Poland, with the crowd behind him, probably lifts Jackiewicz to a greater level of performance than would be possible were he boxing elsewhere. His rise from journeyman to European champion and now, if he wins this fight, world title contender, makes Jackiewicz something of a Polish Cinderella Man. He is the sort of fighter that one wants to see do well — unless, of course, one happens to be a Rodriguez supporter.

Assessing the fight purely on the talent and punching power of the two men, Rodriguez has better than an even-money chance of winning, but it is the Polish site that tips me Jackiewicz’s way. I have the sense that he will be able to block and counter, get the jab working, steel himself to withstand some heavy pressure from Rodriguez and then come on with a strong finish to eke out a narrow win after a tense, back-and-forth fight.