Wolak: “Expect All Out Assault”… “Canelo is a World Champion, He Needs to Fight Guys”
Pawel Wolak, 29-1 with 19 KOs, is coming off the biggest win of his career. He fought former titleholder Yuri Foreman on the undercard of the Miguel Cotto vs. Ricardo Mayorga pay-per-view and controlled the action from the onset of the affair. Foreman’s corner halted the bout after the sixth round, as Wolak’s nonstop aggression and power proved to be too much for him to handle.
Next up, in what promises to be a very fun fight for fans to watch, is a July 15th showdown against Delvin Rodriguez, 25-5-2, 14 KOs. Rodriguez has lost three of his last four fights, and is moving up from the welterweight ranks. However, several of those losses were questionable decisions and Rodriguez has built up a following as a crowd and TV-friendly battler.
The winner of the Wolak vs. Rodriguez fight will be in prime position to get a shot at one of the big names in the junior middleweight division – Miguel Cotto and Saul Alvarez are the biggest. Wolak already sits at the number 5 in the junior middleweight division in the latest ProBoxing-Fans.com rankings, and would relish the opportunity to fight either of those big names.
Still, he isn’t looking past the challenge of Rodriguez and the importance of that fight, and while brimming with a quiet confidence, he’s reluctant to talk bad about other fighters or their performances. The “Raging Bull”, a well-earned nickname for the Polish brawler, prefers to break his man down within the ropes. Here, he took a few minutes to talk with ProBoxing-Fans.com about his training, the upcoming bout, what he thinks of Alvarez, and more.
How’s training going for your July 15th bout against Delvin Rodriguez?
PW: Training is going very well. I’m actually ahead of schedule, I try to compare from fight to fight… but it’s going well, basically we’ve brought in our sparring partners and we’re doing more with certain guys who are more typical and fight more like Delvin, obviously. I have my sparring partners set, doing a lot of running, sparring, heavy work in the gym.
What do you think about Delvin as a fighter, and what do you think of this matchup? It has a lot of fans excited as being a potentially action-packed, thrilling encounter.
PW: I agree, I think it’s going to be an action packed fight. With Delvin, I’m not going to call him an opponent, I think people say when a guy is in with an opponent that he’s supposed to win. I don’t believe that. Delvin is going to be well prepared, and he’s going to be coming to fight. I’m going to come in the best shape. He’s had some controversial losses, you can put it that way. So I know he’s going to come back and be in great shape. I don’t know about him personally, but seeing him fight, he’s a good, strong fighter. Good jab, and a very good right hand, tall, so he’s going to be a tough fight.
After your win over Yuri Foreman, I’m sure you were hoping for a title shot next. Is this bout in any way a disappointment to you in that regard?
PW: No it’s not. Look, of course I was hoping for a title shot after the Yuri fight. But it’s not a disappointment to me at all. Delvin is a very tough guy, and a tough fight. And the big thing for me is it’s ESPN, Friday Night Fights, it’s very important for me and it will be seen by the public. It’s going to be a great fight, I know that for the fact. Eventually the big fight and the title shot will come along.
So what was the Foreman win, and that whole event, like for you? It was definitely a breakout moment on a big stage.
PW: It was a huge win for me, number one. For me, I never come to a fight defeated mentally, as if I’m going up in class or anything like that. Never in my mind did I think I would lose to Yuri Foreman. I thought it would be a tougher fight… and it was a tough fight. It was the big stage, and I’ve never been to Vegas before in my life. But I never thought I was going to lose that fight. We trained exactly for his style, all the time in the gym we watched tapes on him and talked about it. My trainer, Tommy Brooks, has worked with him and we knew what we were dealing with. And if you’ve seen the fight, then afterwards I wasn’t surprised, it was just all the emotion came to, and it was all over with, and I could finally go back home.
You were saying you thought it would be a tougher fight than it was, and really the fight seemed like it played out perfectly in terms of how you would have envisioned it…
PW: We prepared for that fight unbelievably. It was all about fighting the person, and fighting him every second of every round. That was the whole point. I knew I could do it from training and sparring… The game plan was all about keeping him in front of me within arm’s length. From there, be on him, pretty much stick to him.
Well it worked out pretty perfectly for you. I’m sure you’re not looking past Rodriguez, but who are the big names in the division that you’re going after? Of course, Miguel Cotto and Vanes Martirosyan, two other guys in the top 10 of the division, are also promoted by Top Rank like yourself…
PW: Not looking past Delvin and assuming that works out good, then I definitely want to challenge for a world title. I think I’m right there. If I look good against Delvin, I’m right there. There are four champions in the weight class, with Canelo Alvarez, Cotto, Dzinziruk, and the winner of the Bundrage-Powell fight [Editor’s note: Cotto is the WBA “super” champion, and Austin Trout is the WBA “regular” champion]. What it comes down to is who promoters can agree to get fight each other. That’s the thing with all of these titles, and each promoter has a different title.
Well, it’s a mess. What do you think about Canelo, who just had his title defense and is getting a ton of exposure. Here’s a young guy in your division and he’s receiving a ton of credit and hype…
PW: I think he is doing very well, he’s very smart, very calm in the ring. He’s young, only 20, 21 years old, but he is a champion. So the whole narrative of him being too young… listen… he’s a world champion, he has to fight guys! But, I think Rhodes and Hatton before that, it really seemed like they didn’t fight him. He fought very well, I’m not going to talk down about him. But if I’m fighting somebody, and I hit him with a 1-2-3 combination, or whatever, I expect that person to come back and try to get me back. It seemed like with Canelo, whenever he wanted he threw any combination and then waited, because there was no feedback. To me, the opponent came in there and tried to make it all 12 rounds without getting hurt the most.
So, see the final bell and get your paycheck and go…
PW: Uh, well, almost, I don’t want to say that… (laughs).. but it was like there was no, “let’s exchange a little bit” and make it happen.
I’m sure you think the fight would play out a little bit differently if you were in the ring with Alvarez…
PW: Believe me, if he ever hit me with a right hand, believe me, I would come right back at him. The way I also see it is, OK, with the fight with Alvarez and Rhodes, you go into a guy’s home country… this guy is an Englishman… he went to Mexico to fight a Mexican superstar… you have to fight him man! The only way you’re ever going to get a nod is, you gotta go in there and think “I have to knock him down at least 3 times”, or if I don’t or don’t knock him out I’m not going to win the fight.
Well you’ve been in a position where you’ve had to get your career back on track before. Your lone loss was a close decision which came against Ishe Smith in 2008. What has changed for you since then, and how would you better be able to handle that kind of style of slick, almost awkward, boxing now?
PW: I think that’s what it was. That loss was big for me. It changed everything, I went and trained with a whole new team, and I wasn’t getting the proper sparring and training before the fight. I don’t have much amateur experience, so sparring… and getting older and more confident, and lots of good sparring on top of that. And training with Tommy Brooks and working with Terrific, Aroz Gist, has been great, and that’s been very important. And I’ve grown into myself and I have become a man, let me put it that way.
So, it was a beneficial loss for you in the long run…
PW: Oh yea. For me, it was a wakeup call.
What are your goals for the rest of the year?
PW: Basically, I have to show up and look good against Delvin. Then hopefully we get a title shot before the end of the year.
If you were talking to fans who haven’t seen you fight, what would you tell them about yourself and your style, and why they should want to see you in action and see you in big fights?
PW: If a fan has never seen me fight, they can expect all out assault. They can expect lots of big punches and nonstop aggression. I think it’s going to be an exciting fight no matter who I fight. So tune in, I bring what fans love about guys like Arturo Gatti and Mike Tyson who made their name by going in there and giving it their all.
