War of the Roses Preview
By: Andrew Harrison
Category: jamie moore, matthew macklin, otis grant, ryan rhodes
| Aperture: | f/2.8 |
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| Focal Length: | 28mm |
| ISO: | 100 |
| Shutter: | 1/50 sec |
| Camera: | Canon EOS-1D Mark II |
Safesideoftheropes rolls into Bolton tomorrow evening as veteran southpaws Ryan Rhodes and Jamie Moore do battle for Moore’s European light middleweight title. The carrot dangling for both men is a shot at WBC 154 lb title holder, the Spaniard Sergio Martinez, with the bout tagged as being an ‘official’ title elimination match. The intricacies of alphabet organisations being what they are however could mean the victor actually has to face off against Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. in a further elimination bout, a sort of Mexican version of Bruce Lee’s Game of Death……answers on a postcard if you can explain that one.
Salford’s Moore 32-3 (23) is currently rated the top domestic fighter at 154lb by Boxing Monthly with Sheffield’s Rhodes 42-4 (28) one place behind his opponent in second. Moore is unbeaten in his last twelve stretching back to 2004, whilst Rhodes’ winning streak on the other hand, stands at seven bouts, his last defeat coming at the hands of former middleweight title challenger Gary Lockett in the summer of 2006.
Rhodes, the former self-styled ‘Spice Boy’ of British boxing was a familiar face back in the day, a ubiquitous grinning right hand man at the side of the rising phenomenon which was Prince Naseem Hamed. A student of the hands down Wincobank style sported by the likes of Herol ‘Bomber’ Graham, Johnny Nelson, his mate Naz and more recently Junior Witter, he looked for a time as though he would follow in the footsteps of his pal as he rocketed his way to the British light middle title after just 11 fights in 22 months. Only a handful of bouts later however the wheels began to come off with an unsuccessful challenge for the vacant WBO title against Jamaican, Otis Grant. With a style and manner very much built around self confidence, Rhodes struggled to regroup and was flattened in two rounds by Jason Matthews in a WBO title tilt up at middleweight in 1999.
It does seem remarkable that here we are, a decade on and Rhodes, after hitting a purple patch late in his career, stands on the very brink of a world title shot.
His opponent, the tough and grizzled Moore has been vocal in his disdain at having been left to languish at domestic level for far too long a time and one senses he is now positively straining at the leash to test himself in a higher class. Brooding and intimidating, he boxes out of a rather different southpaw stance to his opponent, compact and stalking with a good body attack and a wicked overhand left. The Manchester hardman has tried and tested heart and mettle, his epic brawl with current European middleweight champ Matthew Macklin in 2006 is a bonafide domestic classic. Moore can take it and dish it out, can win early or late and will look to steadily wear down Rhodes with his debilitating attack.
Rhodes is probably the bigger one shot hitter and may hold an edge in the speed department, however one feels that even if he can floor the champion (and Moore can be hurt, dropped and indeed stopped) Moore, who will have vociferous support behind him, will get up and come back for more and will believe whole heartedly that he can turn the fight his way. Whether Rhodes can do the same if he finds himself under heavy fire however, is another matter.
In what should be an exciting battle I’ll take Moore to hurt Rhodes with left hands whilst steadily chipping away at him to win a clear decision. Rhodes will have his moments, however not enough of them to derail Moore’s world title aspirations.
It will be interesting indeed to see whether promoter Frank Maloney can wangle him his shot (should he win) amid the politics and plain oddness that is the modern day world title landscape.
William Hill currently have Moore posted as a prohibitive favourite at odds of 2/7 with Rhodes out at 5/2. The fight will be televised live from 10pm on Sky TV.
I like Moore in this one, but if he’s taken his eye off the ball, Rhodes is just the man to spoil the party. Potential bannana skin for Moore, but I’ll take him to stop Rhodes late on.
Hell of a banana skin Dave, what a fantastic win for Rhodes. Rumours were rife that Moore had real trouble with the weight and as is so often the case in these situations, he looked really strong early before fading dramatically. Not to take away from Rhodes however, I think he’d have won last night even if Moore had been at the top of his game, he was gutsy, resilient and brave but smart with it.
Great fight. An absolute pleasure to watch. I agree there was a bit of a drained look about Moore after four rounds, but top marks to Rhodes. He’s certainly left his “Spice Boy” image behind him. Cracking bill as well, much better than the rubbish served up by Hennessy last weekend. Was saddened to hear about the tragic post-fight events of the Jason Rushton fight though. Hope he can pull through this. Did you see that fight Haz? Was it a late stoppage?
I didn’t see the Rushton-Rose fight Dave, it was on after the main event. I’d have stayed for it (I tend to watch all of the undercard fights) but there was a pier six brawl which kicked off all around us during round seven of Moore-Rhodes.
A little fella got up on his chair, a bunch of scouse lads took exception, he went flying through 3 rows of seats and then it kicked off. The little guy started jabbing….yes jabbing….and was rounded on before being flattened with a chair which missed my head by 2mm.
After the fight finished we wandered into the foyer to try and have a bit chat with Ricky Hatton but the lunatics had taken over the asylum by this point so we decided to cut out losses and went back to the hotel bar.
It’s strange, you never want to see a fighter get hurt however I feel bad for not staying to watch the bout if you know what I mean? These kids are putting their lives on the line and we’re wandering off to get a glimpse of a celebrity boxer.
Just hope he’s gonna pull through ok, reports indicate there was no clot to remove. The BBB of C’s safety measures, including having the anaesthetist at ringside for all bouts, are excellent. I’ll be keeping a close eye on his progress.
LOL at the scrap. There’s always a few isn’ t there.
Yeah, the BBBofC are miles ahead of everyone else in their safety measures. Let’s just hope and pray that Rushton will pull through this.