Ryan Rhodes: record, next fight and profile →
Sheffield’s Ryan Rhodes lost for the first time in nearly five years after being stopped at 0:48 of the twelfth and final round of his WBC 154lb title challenge to Saul Alvarez on Saturday night.
GUADALAJARA, Jal - On Saturday night, Saul "Canelo" Alvarez (37-0, 27KOs) was the happiest man in the arena after scoring a twelfth round knockout over a stubborn Ryan Rhodes to retain his WBC junior middleweight championship for the first time. Rhodes was the mandatory challenger appointed by the World Boxing Council.
Junior middleweight Ryan Rhodes, suffering the third knockout loss of his career on Saturday night in Guadalajara, has no intention of packing up his bags to retire from boxing. In an earlier BoxingScene story, Rhodes admitted that WBC junior middleweight champion Saul "Canelo" Alvarez was too strong and his bodyshots were too damaging. The end came in the twelfth round when the referee finally saved Rhodes from further punishment.
Showing sings of battery plus wear and tear around his cheerful, but rueful face, at the post fight press conference, Rhyan Rhodes grinned broadly and conceded: "There's no doubt. I've been beaten by a superstar. Make no mistake about it. I came here to win, and I was in the best shape of my entire career. But I fought a fantastic fighter in Canelo tonight.
It was all Saul "Canelo" Alvarez in his first defense of the WBC junior middleweight title. He landed 52% of his power punches. The outclassed Ryan Rhodes averaged just 32 punches thrown per round.
Arena VFG, Jalisco, Mexico - Saul Alvarez (37-0, 27KOs) retained his WBC junior middleweight title with a twelfth round stoppage of mandatory challenger Ryan Rhodes (45-5, 31KOs). Alvarez dominated the entire fight.
By Cliff Rold - 20-year old Mexican crowd favorite Saul Alvarez (37-0-1, 27 KO) won his then-vacant WBC Jr. Middleweight belt in March with a win over a fighter who wasn’t even a Jr. Middleweight. The hollow accomplishment began a path to validation Saturday night at the Arena VFG in Alvarez’s native Jalisco, Mexico with a dominating twelfth round stoppage of a sturdy fringe contender within his class, 34-year old Ryan Rhodes (45-5, 31 KO) of Sheffield, England. It was Rhodes’s third knockout loss. Both men came into the contest below the division limit of 154 lbs., Alvarez at 153 ¼ and Rhodes at 152 ½. Alvarez began circling to his left away from Rhodes, slipping a soft lead left from Rhodes near the ropes. They tested each other with measuring, missing jabs, Alvarez missing his own lead left wildly near the halfway point of the round. Rhodes picked off a right and landed a left hand to the face of Alvarez with about a minute to go. Alvarez would answer in the final thirty seconds with some combinations, Alvarez able to touch Rhodes with a left hook and right hand before the first three minutes had passed. Rhodes again came forward at the start of the second but the roles quickly reversed. Rhodes played with his stance in the round, spending the latter half in his natural southpaw form. Playing the aggressor, Alvarez brought roars from the crowd with brief combinations. Alvarez struggled as the round progressed to get his right hand through against the southpaw guard of Rhodes, the crowd occasionally booing the uneven action. The description was apt in the third as well, Rhodes truing to box his man and Alvarez settling for single, hard shots where openings allowed.
Arena VFG, Jalisco, Mexico - Saul Alvarez (37-0, 27KOs) retained his WBC junior middleweight title with a twelfth round stoppage of mandatory challenger Ryan Rhodes (45-5, 31KOs). Alvarez dominated the entire fight.
CompuBox takes a detailed historical look at tonight's junior middleweight title fight between WBC champion Saul "Canelo" Alvarez and mandatory challenger Ryan Rhodes. The numbers get broken down for Alvarez's last four fights, and the last three fights for Rhodes.
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