Ryan Rhodes | |
---|---|
Statistics | |
Nickname(s) | Spice Boy |
Rated at | |
Height | 5 ft 8 1⁄2 in (174 cm) |
Nationality | British |
Born |
Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England |
20 November 1976
Stance | Southpaw |
Boxing record | |
Total fights | 52 |
Wins | 46 |
Wins by KO | 31 |
Losses | 6 |
Ryan Rhodes (born 20 November 1976) is a British former professional boxer who competed from 1995 to 2012. He held the British light-middleweight title twice, from 1996 to 1997 and in 2008, and the European light-middleweight title from 2009 to 2010. Additionally he challenged for the WBO middleweight title in 1997, and the WBC light-middleweight title in 2011.
Rhodes took up boxing at a young age, training at Brendan Ingle's gym in the Wincobank district of Sheffield. At the age of 20, he defeated another Sheffield boxer Paul "Silky" Jones with a technical knock out in the eighth round to become the youngest post-war holder of the British title. He went on to win the belt outright in a record time of 90 days with wins over Peter Waudby and Del Bryan.
On 13 December 1997, Rhodes stepped up a weight division to middleweight to challenge the American Otis Grant for the vacant WBO title but was defeated by a unanimous decision.
On 18 April 2008, Rhodes knocked out Gary Woolcombe 37 seconds into the 9th round to regain the British light middleweight title, 11 years after he first won it. He defended his title for the first time as the main event on the Hayemaker Promotions boxing show in Sheffield. His opponent was Jamie Coyle, whom he defeated by a unanimous decision.
Since then he has defeated Vincent Vuma of South Africa to win the WBC International light middleweight title and in doing so obtained a ranking in the top ten in the world.