By James Slater: WBC boss Jose Sulaiman recently named Britain’s Ryan Rhodes as the official challenger of his organisation’s new 154-pound champion, Saul Alvarez, and the fight is close to being signed for Mexico on June 18th. An interesting fight on paper: will “Canelo” be able to make a successful first defence of the belt he won by beating another Brit in Matthew Hatton, or will the tricky southpaw skills of veteran Rhodes see to it that the Sheffield man finally gets his hands on a world title?
34-year-old Rhodes had two previous shots at the WBO middleweight title, back in 1997 and in 1999. Rhodes lost both fights: to Otis Grant (on points) and to Jason Matthews (KOby2). The good friend of Naseem Hamed dipped off the radar for a while after suffering the stoppage loss to Matthews and then a TKO at the hands of Lee Blundell three years later. Over the last four years or so, though, the former “Spice Boy” has been fighting better than ever.
Regaining the British light-middleweight belt with a savage KO of Gary Woolcombe in April of 2008 – an amazing 12 years after first winning it – Rhodes has gone 7-0(5) since. Included in Rhodes’ recent wins is a brilliant stoppage win over the tough Jamie Moore. Rhodes, in a great action fight, halted his fellow southpaw in October of 2009, and since then he has retained the European title he won in the FOTY candidate.
There is no doubt about it: Rhodes can fight. A dangerous first title challenger for the still-learning 20-year-old who has been hailed as the next Mexican superstar, the 45-4(31) southpaw has been waiting a long time for his shot and he could well pull off the upset in my opinion. Rhodes and his team were angry when Matthew Hatton leaped ahead of him and got a shot at the WBC belt, but now – with current WBC #1 contender Alfredo Angulo “unavailable” according to Don Jose – Rhodes is on the verge of his big opportunity.
Alvarez, 36-0-1(26) looked good in spots against the gutsy, out-weighed Hatton, but his overall performance drew lukewarm reviews from most fans. At just 20-years-of-age, of course “Canelo” is not the finished article yet; but against the crafty, hard-hitting Rhodes (who has underrated punching power), Alvarez may make mistakes he will be punished for. Hatton didn’t have the firepower to hurt Alvarez, even though “Magic” did land some shots. Rhodes, a natural light-middleweight, WILL be able to make the champion pay if he leaves himself open to a counter.
Rhodes in a fine counter-puncher but he can also be an aggressive fighter when the mood suits him. If he does indeed get the shot in June, I think we will see the best of Ryan Rhodes. If I’m right, Saul Alvarez will have to bring his best stuff also, so as to be able to retain his belt at the first time of asking.