KILBURN welterweight Ashley Theophane should take cover because a storm is set to hit him in Miami, Oklahoma on Friday night. At least that’s the message coming from the Brit’s opponent Delvin Rodriguez.

The pair are old acquaintances, having previously trained together, but that will count for nothing when they square off this week in front of a national US audience on ESPN2 (also being broadcast delayed here on ESPN) and former world title challenger Rodriguez sees his strength being the deciding factor in the fight.

“I know him [Theophane] pretty well. He used to come to my camp and I’ve seen him fight a couple of times,” Rodriguez, 25-4-2 (14), explained. “He’s a very tough kid and he comes to a fight well prepared but I’m used to that now. I’ve been fighting good fighters for such a long I’m ready for anything.

“I definitely think when he feels my power he’s going to try and run away. It’s my job to use my experience, cut the ring off and put the combinations together. I don’t think he’s going to be able to take the storm.”

Rodriguez knows what it’s like to face tough challenges, he’s been taking them head-on all of his life.

The fighter worked hard on his family’s farm in the Dominican Republic from almost as soon as he was able to walk and when he was only four years old his parents headed to the States in search of a better life, leaving young Delvin behind.

Four years passed and only when they felt they had built a good enough lifestyle in Danbury, Connecticut did they call for their young son to join them. For Rodriguez the difference between his humble life in Santiago de los Caballeros and the bright lights of the US of A were staggering.

“It was very different coming here,” he recalled. “I come from a poor family and was kind of a farm boy and then suddenly I was in this different world but that was probably why I started boxing.

“I started out in an after-school program. All my friends were doing it and it was the only fun thing for me to do after school because I didn’t know where to go and I didn’t know the language. I saw boxing as a way out for me.”

That way out lead to a successful amateur career before he elected to turn pro in early 1999. Since then he’s run up a decent record and been a long-time holder of the USBA welter strap. But he feels he should have had his hands on a world title before now.

In August last year Rodriguez lost a razor-thin split decision to South Africa’s Isaac Hlatshwayo in a challenge for the vacant IBF title and then last November he lost a contentious verdict to Rafal Jackiewicz in Poland in an eliminator for the same championship.

“It was very disappointing because I felt I won those two fights and I never got the decision,” stated Rodriguez, who says he doesn’t know much about Britain’s top welters Kell Brook and Matthew Hatton. “But there’s nothing I can do about it. All I can do is stay focused and get myself back in position.”

And he hopes that this week’s action against Theophane will show his credentials at the top of the sport and earn him another crack at world honours.

He said: “I’m hoping to get a shot by the end of this year. I’m ready, I feel I am one of the best welterweights in the world and I want to take on the best. I’m just hoping for that opportunity.

“I want to fight the guys at the top. I want to fight Miguel Cotto and Floyd Mayweather, those kind of guys. I’m tired of having tough fights for no recognition. I’m ready to fight at the top. I’m as good as, if not better than, most world champions so that’s where I want to be, on top.”