Ryan Rhodes Eyes Title: “There's Life in The Old Dog!”

By Terence Dooley

Ryan Rhodes came through his first outing since losing to Saul Alvarez by out-pointing Siarhei Khomitski over eight-threes at Rotherham's Magna Centre on Saturday night. Ryan was stopped in the twelfth and final round of his WBC light-middleweight title challenge to Alvarez in Mexico on June 18th and stripped of the European title when fighting for the world crown as per EBU rules but insists that he can claw his way back into contention.

Indeed, rather than wait for a title and TV show to roll around, Ryan decided to take on Khomitski in order to shed some rust ahead of 2012 and clear the cobwebs left over from the defeat to 'Canelo'. Rhodes took a few shots en route to a 79-74 win on referee Michael Alexander's scorecard on the Dave Coldwell-promoted bill before telling the 2000 in attendance that he is itching to get back into the title mix.

Rhodes (161lb) scored with some sharp single blows early in the bout before allowing Khomitski (160lb) back into the contest in the third and fourth; the 37-year-old Belarusian scoring with enough rights to nick the two rounds on my card.

Rhodes, though, powered in a solid jab to floor his opponent early in the sixth only for the referee to call it a slip. Ironically 'The Spice Boy' scored a knockdown in the seventh even though Siarhei was bundled to his knees without a meaningful shot landing. Justified or not, the count spurred Rhodes into sustained action, the Sheffield man landed a solid left uppercut late in the session before closing out the eighth with some short right hands, although Khomitski also landed with his own right as the final seconds rolled around.

Siarhei, now 23-9-2 (9), picked up a win over Jamie Moore in his last visit to these shores but was well beaten, the wide margin no surprise despite one or two tricky moments for Rhodes, 46-5 (31), who told the crowd that he had wanted to bring home the world title earlier in the summer before vowing to bounce back and pick up his old EBU belt in the New Year.

“I'll be out again in March and April,” said Rhodes. “I wanted to bring home the world title to Sheffield but it didn't happen and I lost to someone who is going to be a superstar. My (EBU) title was taken away from me. I never lost it in the ring, so I'll fight for that title again as mandatory (challenger) and see what happens. There's life in the old dog yet.”

Rhodes is also chasing another world title shot, the 35-year-old has targeted IBF boss Cornelius 'K9' Bundrage. Although many people have written the former British and European titlist off, Rhodes has climbed back to the summit before - it would take a brave man to draw a line under his long and storied title career.

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