Alvarez to Defend Title Against Rhodes on June 18 at LinesMaker

Alvarez to Defend Title Against Rhodes on June 18

NEW YORK —Junior mid­dleweight cham­pion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez will defend his title for the first time against Ryan Rhodes of Eng­land on June 18 in Guadala­jara, Mexico.

The red­headed, freckle-faced 20-year-old phe­nom became the youngest man to win the 154-pound title when he dom­i­nated Matthew Hat­ton on March 5 in Ana­heim, Calif. Now he’ll return to his native Mex­ico, where Canelo—Spanish for cinnamon—is wildly popular.

“I am very excited that my first world title defense will be in Guadala­jara,” Alvarez said this week. “I promise I will work extremely hard to give all my fans a great performance.”

Alvarez (36–0-1, 26 KOs) is a pro­tege of Oscar De La Hoya, is rep­re­sented by De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Pro­mo­tions and pos­sesses a charisma sim­i­lar to that of the long­time champion.

“One of the first things Canelo told me after he won his world title was that he didn’t want to sit around wait­ing,” De La Hoya said. “He wants to fight, he wants to be an active cham­pion, and we’re going to give him every oppor­tu­nity to do that.”

Alvarez was cer­tainly active on his way to becom­ing a champion.

He turned pro­fes­sional when he was only 15, and had 20 fights under his belt by the time he became a legal adult. His most notable vic­to­ries include a knock­out of Jose Miguel Cotto—the brother of fel­low junior mid­dleweight champ Miguel Angel Cotto—and wins over for­mer title­hold­ers Car­los Bal­domir and Lover­more N’dou.

“I know that Ryan will be com­ing to seize the oppor­tu­nity to win a world title, but I have every con­fi­dence that Canelo has what it takes to not only win on June 18, but also to reign as a world cham­pion for many years to come,” De La Hoya said.

Rhodes (45–4, 31 KOs) has fought exclu­sively in Europe, win­ning sev­eral regional titles, but has failed in two pre­vi­ous world cham­pi­onship shots— against Jason Matthews for an interim belt in July 1999, and against Otis Grant for a vacant belt in Decem­ber 1997.

Those were both at the mid­dleweight limit of 160 pounds, though. Rhodes will be fight­ing Alvarez at his more nat­ural weight of 154.

“I have waited a long time for this oppor­tu­nity and I intend to take it with both hands,” Rhodes said. “I respect Canelo as a fighter and I know he is an excit­ing prospect, but … I fully intend to bring the belt back to England.”

Also on the card, which will be tele­vised by HBO, 21-year-old prospect Adrien Broner (20–0, 16 KOs) faces Jason Litzau (28–2, 21 KOs) in a matchup of junior light­weight contenders.

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