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They say the best things come to those who wait. In Ryan Rhodes’ case this saying has certainly proved to be true.
In what will be his 50th professional bout Ryan has landed the big fight he has been craving, a shot at the WBC light-middleweight title on June 18th against 22-year-old Mexican star Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez.
It seems like lots of fights have been announced and then for one reason or another have fallen through recently, but there are no reasons for this one to not go ahead as scheduled.
“Golden Boy will be promoting this show and the Hattons have been doing the negotiating for me. It’s been a really easy one to get on. There have been no disagreements between us, everything we wanted they have provided for us."
I’m sure all our readers remember the amazing show that Ryan and Jamie Moore put on in their October 2009 European light-middleweight title bout that Ryan won with a seventh round stoppage. Since then Ryan’s career has slowed somewhat.
“When you have certain things in the pipeline you just have to bide your time a bit. I’ve been rated number two and number three over the past eighteen months with the WBC after beating Jamie Moore. I had one Euro defence against Messi, then I was due to defend against Lukas Konecny on the Magnificent 7 card in Birmingham but I had to pull out of that one with a back injury. Then the Hattons offered me an eight rounder in Manchester which I won. Then I was scheduled to fight a WBC final eliminator versus Alfredo Angulo who had visa issues and couldn’t fight. Then they moved it to the next in line, which was me!”
Even though Ryan has waited patiently for this WBC shot it’s not like team Rhodes have been relying solely on the WBC coming good. The people involved in the team have been busy on their phones trying to open some other doors for Ryan.
“We talked to a couple of other organisations, we talked to K-9 Bundrage but by the sounds of things he wanted stupid money to come to England. We put in an offer for WBO champ Serhiy Dzinziruk who decided to fight Sergio Martinez. So we have been trying other avenues but basically came up against brick walls. The last 18 months have been the only time in my professional career when I have been rated in the top 10 with all the major governing bodies. Then this title shot came to light and I’m absolutely buzzing about it, especially as it’s the WBC."
Last time out, Alvarez convincingly defeated Matthew Hatton over twelve rounds for the vacant WBC strap. Ryan could have been excused for feeling slightly hard done by when he found out that the belt he had previously won an eliminator for was up for grabs.
“To be fair Matthew was fighting Alvarez long before it got made a title fight. The WBC just decided to make it for their light-middleweight belt. Looking back if the WBC hadn’t made it a title fight then me and Alvarez might not have been fighting for the title at this time.
“I watched the fight with great interest. Matt did great; he had jumped up from welterweight to fight Alvarez at light-middle. Matthew isn’t the biggest puncher but to go twelve rounds and hold his own was great. He had some good rounds and landed some good shots. Even when Matthew got caught he came back with his own shots so fair play to him.”
Even though Ryan is the challenger this fight does look winnable for him. He knows his way around the ring and is a good all round boxer. Experience is key to Ryan winning this fight and this is one attribute Alvarez has yet to add to his CV.
“Me and Dave Coldwell (Rhodes' trainer) were looking at his record on BoxRec yesterday and we were looking at his fights over the last year to 18 months and he was taken the distance by Lovemore N’dou who’s not a big puncher and quite slow.
“Then he fought Carlos Baldomir who he stopped late on, but he was 39 years old and not a huge puncher. Alvarez fought Jose Cotto who had moved up from light-welter to welterweight and in that fight in the fourth or fifth round Cotto had Alvarez in all sorts of trouble, he was all over the place. So this is the first time he is going to fight someone who is a big light middle-weight and who can punch. I think it’s dangerous for him. I’m absolutely buzzing about it. When I look back at his record and see who he’s fought and what he’s done, my confidence is growing every day.
“As a pro he’s done what he has needed to do, he is only twenty years old and he turned pro at fifteen and has had 37 fights so far. Golden Boy are guiding his career and have done a good job for him. This is the first time someone is going to hit him and hit him hard."
Being the away fighter is hard enough but having to travel half way across the world to challenge a local hero is a different story. Think back to 1975 when John H Stracey travelled to Mexico to challenge and conqueror the great Jose Napoles for the WBC welterweight title. I remember John telling me that he had to move hotels a couple of days before the fight as the Mexicans were constantly ringing his hotel room phone and making a lot of noise in his vicinity to ruin any chances of him getting a good night's sleep in preparation for the fight! Hopefully Ryan won’t suffer any of these shenanigans; either way I don’t think he is too bothered about the trip to Mexico.
“I’ve had it in the back of my head since the fight first got mentioned. But that doesn’t faze me, at the end of the day where ever the fight is there’s only going to be me and him in the ring. I’ve already accepted that his fans will be jeering me in the arena, that’s not going to bother me, I’m 34 years old and have been in the game long enough to not let the crowd bother me. I went to the Millennium Stadium in Wales to fight Gary Lockett in front of 15,000 screaming Welsh fans; it’s probably going to be on a par with that in Mexico.
"Me, Dave Coldwell and my conditioner Mark Willie will be heading out to Mexico two weeks before the fight to make sure my minds on the job and all the preparation has been done right."
Alvarez can fight and he can punch, 26 of his 36 wins have come by way of knock out. I asked Ryan if he can see any cracks in Canelo’s game.
“To be fair I have been looking at his strengths more than his weaknesses. I will be concentrating on what he does well. He throws his punches together really well, his combinations are good. When he throws punches he makes sure they land. He is a very fit kid; he set a good pace against Hatton and kept it going throughout the fight. This is going to be his first legitimate light-middleweight fight and to be honest he wasn’t that much bigger than Matthew when they fought."
Ryan is very strong at light-middle; he proved that by walking through Jamie Moore’s best shots before getting on the offensive and turning the fight around to score a memorable win. Alvarez has spent most of his career fighting around the 147 lb mark and was not the biggest welterweight ever to step into the ring, so size and strength could be other key factors in this fight.
“The bottom line is I’m an undefeated light-middleweight fighter and all my loses came at middleweight. I feel so strong. I’ve had 12 weeks notice for this fight so weight is not an issue. I will be heading into this fight 100% the strongest I’ve ever been and the fittest I’ve ever been. I’m just so excited and there is still 10 weeks to go!”
This is a huge fight and boxing fans in the UK should be given a chance to watch Ryan take on Alvarez. Will that happen? You never know.
“The TV side of things is still up in the air at the moment. Obviously SKY showed Hatton vs. Alvarez on tape delay so I don’t see why they shouldn’t show my fight. Over in America HBO are covering the fight. I will be taking about 20 or 30 fans over to Mexico and I’m sure some screaming Yorkshiremen will make themselves heard.”
In what will be his 50th professional bout Ryan has landed the big fight he has been craving, a shot at the WBC light-middleweight title on June 18th against 22-year-old Mexican star Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez.
It seems like lots of fights have been announced and then for one reason or another have fallen through recently, but there are no reasons for this one to not go ahead as scheduled.
“Golden Boy will be promoting this show and the Hattons have been doing the negotiating for me. It’s been a really easy one to get on. There have been no disagreements between us, everything we wanted they have provided for us."
I’m sure all our readers remember the amazing show that Ryan and Jamie Moore put on in their October 2009 European light-middleweight title bout that Ryan won with a seventh round stoppage. Since then Ryan’s career has slowed somewhat.
“When you have certain things in the pipeline you just have to bide your time a bit. I’ve been rated number two and number three over the past eighteen months with the WBC after beating Jamie Moore. I had one Euro defence against Messi, then I was due to defend against Lukas Konecny on the Magnificent 7 card in Birmingham but I had to pull out of that one with a back injury. Then the Hattons offered me an eight rounder in Manchester which I won. Then I was scheduled to fight a WBC final eliminator versus Alfredo Angulo who had visa issues and couldn’t fight. Then they moved it to the next in line, which was me!”
Even though Ryan has waited patiently for this WBC shot it’s not like team Rhodes have been relying solely on the WBC coming good. The people involved in the team have been busy on their phones trying to open some other doors for Ryan.
“We talked to a couple of other organisations, we talked to K-9 Bundrage but by the sounds of things he wanted stupid money to come to England. We put in an offer for WBO champ Serhiy Dzinziruk who decided to fight Sergio Martinez. So we have been trying other avenues but basically came up against brick walls. The last 18 months have been the only time in my professional career when I have been rated in the top 10 with all the major governing bodies. Then this title shot came to light and I’m absolutely buzzing about it, especially as it’s the WBC."
Last time out, Alvarez convincingly defeated Matthew Hatton over twelve rounds for the vacant WBC strap. Ryan could have been excused for feeling slightly hard done by when he found out that the belt he had previously won an eliminator for was up for grabs.
“To be fair Matthew was fighting Alvarez long before it got made a title fight. The WBC just decided to make it for their light-middleweight belt. Looking back if the WBC hadn’t made it a title fight then me and Alvarez might not have been fighting for the title at this time.
“I watched the fight with great interest. Matt did great; he had jumped up from welterweight to fight Alvarez at light-middle. Matthew isn’t the biggest puncher but to go twelve rounds and hold his own was great. He had some good rounds and landed some good shots. Even when Matthew got caught he came back with his own shots so fair play to him.”
Even though Ryan is the challenger this fight does look winnable for him. He knows his way around the ring and is a good all round boxer. Experience is key to Ryan winning this fight and this is one attribute Alvarez has yet to add to his CV.
“Me and Dave Coldwell (Rhodes' trainer) were looking at his record on BoxRec yesterday and we were looking at his fights over the last year to 18 months and he was taken the distance by Lovemore N’dou who’s not a big puncher and quite slow.
“Then he fought Carlos Baldomir who he stopped late on, but he was 39 years old and not a huge puncher. Alvarez fought Jose Cotto who had moved up from light-welter to welterweight and in that fight in the fourth or fifth round Cotto had Alvarez in all sorts of trouble, he was all over the place. So this is the first time he is going to fight someone who is a big light middle-weight and who can punch. I think it’s dangerous for him. I’m absolutely buzzing about it. When I look back at his record and see who he’s fought and what he’s done, my confidence is growing every day.
“As a pro he’s done what he has needed to do, he is only twenty years old and he turned pro at fifteen and has had 37 fights so far. Golden Boy are guiding his career and have done a good job for him. This is the first time someone is going to hit him and hit him hard."
Being the away fighter is hard enough but having to travel half way across the world to challenge a local hero is a different story. Think back to 1975 when John H Stracey travelled to Mexico to challenge and conqueror the great Jose Napoles for the WBC welterweight title. I remember John telling me that he had to move hotels a couple of days before the fight as the Mexicans were constantly ringing his hotel room phone and making a lot of noise in his vicinity to ruin any chances of him getting a good night's sleep in preparation for the fight! Hopefully Ryan won’t suffer any of these shenanigans; either way I don’t think he is too bothered about the trip to Mexico.
“I’ve had it in the back of my head since the fight first got mentioned. But that doesn’t faze me, at the end of the day where ever the fight is there’s only going to be me and him in the ring. I’ve already accepted that his fans will be jeering me in the arena, that’s not going to bother me, I’m 34 years old and have been in the game long enough to not let the crowd bother me. I went to the Millennium Stadium in Wales to fight Gary Lockett in front of 15,000 screaming Welsh fans; it’s probably going to be on a par with that in Mexico.
"Me, Dave Coldwell and my conditioner Mark Willie will be heading out to Mexico two weeks before the fight to make sure my minds on the job and all the preparation has been done right."
Alvarez can fight and he can punch, 26 of his 36 wins have come by way of knock out. I asked Ryan if he can see any cracks in Canelo’s game.
“To be fair I have been looking at his strengths more than his weaknesses. I will be concentrating on what he does well. He throws his punches together really well, his combinations are good. When he throws punches he makes sure they land. He is a very fit kid; he set a good pace against Hatton and kept it going throughout the fight. This is going to be his first legitimate light-middleweight fight and to be honest he wasn’t that much bigger than Matthew when they fought."
Ryan is very strong at light-middle; he proved that by walking through Jamie Moore’s best shots before getting on the offensive and turning the fight around to score a memorable win. Alvarez has spent most of his career fighting around the 147 lb mark and was not the biggest welterweight ever to step into the ring, so size and strength could be other key factors in this fight.
“The bottom line is I’m an undefeated light-middleweight fighter and all my loses came at middleweight. I feel so strong. I’ve had 12 weeks notice for this fight so weight is not an issue. I will be heading into this fight 100% the strongest I’ve ever been and the fittest I’ve ever been. I’m just so excited and there is still 10 weeks to go!”
This is a huge fight and boxing fans in the UK should be given a chance to watch Ryan take on Alvarez. Will that happen? You never know.
“The TV side of things is still up in the air at the moment. Obviously SKY showed Hatton vs. Alvarez on tape delay so I don’t see why they shouldn’t show my fight. Over in America HBO are covering the fight. I will be taking about 20 or 30 fans over to Mexico and I’m sure some screaming Yorkshiremen will make themselves heard.”
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