Phil D. Jay
WBN Editor
WBC light-middleweight champion Saul Alvarez (37-0-1) showed maturity beyond his 20 years in a convincing twelve round stoppage over Britain’s Ryan Rhodes to successfully defend his belt for the first time. The unbeaten title holder was able to pick and choose his attacks throughout the fight as the challenger had no answer to his power and speed.
The Mexican got into his stride after a tentative first round and seemed to be in full control of Rhodes, who found it hard to get his shots off and seemed worried about Alvarez’s power and rightly so. ‘Canelo’ put Rhodes down in fourth round after a three-punch combination and used his uppercut with great accuracy in the later rounds to wear Rhodes down.
Alvarez was able to pick and choose his attacks at times and never seemed worried about what Rhodes had to offer. His combinations were sickening at times as he ground the Briton down through the middle rounds with three and four punch combinations, never looking like hitting top gear.
The Sheffield fighter looked out of his feet at the end of the eleventh round after Alvarez stepped up the pace, looking for the stoppage, which came less than a minute into the last round. With Alvarez sensing the end was close, the champion stepped on the gas from the bell for the twelfth round and piled on the combinations until the referee and Rhodes’ trainer David Coldwell simultaneously ended the fight.
It was an amazing performance from the WBC belt holder, who looks to have grown into being a world champion after claiming the title in a less-spectacular win over Rhodes’ fellow-Englishman Matthew Hatton in March. Rhodes looked much bigger alongside the youngster than Hatton did in his challenge, but seemed to bare the brunt of some much more vicious attacks and in the end the bout was stopped at the right time.
WBN Editor
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| (Picture courtesy of Boxing Scene) |
Alvarez retains world title in dominant win
WBC light-middleweight champion Saul Alvarez (37-0-1) showed maturity beyond his 20 years in a convincing twelve round stoppage over Britain’s Ryan Rhodes to successfully defend his belt for the first time. The unbeaten title holder was able to pick and choose his attacks throughout the fight as the challenger had no answer to his power and speed.
The Mexican got into his stride after a tentative first round and seemed to be in full control of Rhodes, who found it hard to get his shots off and seemed worried about Alvarez’s power and rightly so. ‘Canelo’ put Rhodes down in fourth round after a three-punch combination and used his uppercut with great accuracy in the later rounds to wear Rhodes down.
Alvarez was able to pick and choose his attacks at times and never seemed worried about what Rhodes had to offer. His combinations were sickening at times as he ground the Briton down through the middle rounds with three and four punch combinations, never looking like hitting top gear.
The Sheffield fighter looked out of his feet at the end of the eleventh round after Alvarez stepped up the pace, looking for the stoppage, which came less than a minute into the last round. With Alvarez sensing the end was close, the champion stepped on the gas from the bell for the twelfth round and piled on the combinations until the referee and Rhodes’ trainer David Coldwell simultaneously ended the fight.
It was an amazing performance from the WBC belt holder, who looks to have grown into being a world champion after claiming the title in a less-spectacular win over Rhodes’ fellow-Englishman Matthew Hatton in March. Rhodes looked much bigger alongside the youngster than Hatton did in his challenge, but seemed to bare the brunt of some much more vicious attacks and in the end the bout was stopped at the right time.