lee blundell v ryan rhodes

[KNOCKOUT KING]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y77eQJyOWBI

[twenty six]

... and your point is ?

[d]

... and your point is ?

Gotta say TWENTY SIX.
Think this just shows how much mr. Rhodes has turned his career around!
Don't ya agree?
8)

[The Law]

Ryan has has come on leaps and bounds since joining Hayemaker Promotions. A great move by him.

[rhino222]

obviously this thread is started by one of smalls crew. i was ringside the night ryan lost to blundell, it was a shocking defeat and one of which i doubted ryan could ever come back from, and i carried on doubting until ryan took lockett so so close. im happy to admit i was wrong.

i hope ryan knocks small spark out. hope ryan keeps his head and does not let smalls small talk and big mouth lead him astray. stay focussed ryan, and come and leave a message on here, please.

[Coco]

Ryan looked to be something special in his early professional years, following right in Hamed footsteps, and more importantly was in FW's cleak.
Unfortunately after getting caught by Jason Matthews, which should have been a routine vacant WBO shot, his confidence seemed badly damaged, and obviously Blundell damaged it further.
Suddenly from being a dangerous banger he looked gunshy and didn't want to step in to get his shots off for fear of getting caught.
The rebuilding process hasn't been short, and I dunno if he'll ever get back to his former self, being dumped by FW didn't help either.
Nevertheless he is still British Champ and hopefully he has bigger fights ahead of him, I hope he wins in his next defence too

[Spud]

obviously this thread is started by one of smalls crew. i was ringside the night ryan lost to blundell, it was a shocking defeat and one of which i doubted ryan could ever come back from, and i carried on doubting until ryan took lockett so so close. im happy to admit i was wrong.

i hope ryan knocks small spark out. hope ryan keeps his head and does not let smalls small talk and big mouth lead him astray. stay focussed ryan, and come and leave a message on here, please.

Couldnt have summed it up better - I hope Ryan Rhodes absolutely embarasses Small.

I cannot Small for a number of reasons - what a **** he is!!!

[sweetscience]

never seen that b4, regardless to him losing he took some BIG shots there and was still standing

good chin

[twenty six]

Coco,
Just a "small" point but Rhodes wasn't dumped by Wazza.
That fight was 7 YEARS AGO in three weeks time.
I accept that was Ryan's low point.
I'm not going to rehearse over and over again the issues leading up to that fight, because it gets boring and tedious.
I've no problems with the Blundell fight being brought up but with respect selective memory syndrome is a happy condition.
As long as it's a level playing field of course.
If it's one of Small's mob then to be honest I'm delighted.
7 year old videos don't win fights.
Anyway, maybe we should get the Youtube version of the Pryce v Small fight up here.
Interesting that the author has posted 5 times in the last 2 years.
D - it's been a long road but you know the score
Ultimately you've got to say this is a good domestic fight, but by no means a forgone conclusion for either fighter - but I know where I'll be staking my hard earned cash.

[big lennox]

Just to also point out that Ryan's mind really wasn't on the Blundell fight either.He was going through the motions in the gym in the build up and was distinctly unfocussed.I think I hated seeing this match more than Mathews (who outweighed Ryan significantly on the night). That said, I'd still put money on him to beat both of them in rematches-rematches that were turned down by Blundell and Mathews.

[15829]

cant wait for the fight its gonna be a war think who ever fights the smartest will win i reckon rhodes stoppage

[Quixall]

I saw a recent interview with Ryan and Steve Bunce.

Ryan talks about the fight with Otis Grant and say's that at the age he was, he was unsure whether he could take a fighter like him the distance and win and doubted whether he could beat him. Up until that point Ryan's career had been flying and people forget that he was the British middleweight champion at 20 years of age. I think that defeat to Grant dented Ryan's confidence and then, afew years later, when he was expected to deal with the likes of Mathews and Blundell easily, he came unstuck, but for me it all goes back to that fight with Grant early on in his career.

I think that Ryan can get a European title at best, but i think he would fall short at world level and it's debatable if he would even geta title shot. The fight with Small will be a close fight, i expect Ryan to up the pace in the second half of the fight and either stop Small late on or win a unanimous or majority points decision. I think that Ryan has too much guille and experince for Small and Ryan looked to come out on top in the press conference, which was quite funny.

I'll be rooting for Ryan and i hope he Sparks Small

This is the Ryan Rhodes interview with Steve Bunce

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6rhRmhc4Mc

[twenty six]

Quixall,
To put you right, Ryan has never been Middleweight Champion.
He was Light Middleweight Champion and remains undefeated at the weight.
The Grant fight was his first at Middlweight.
His performance against Grant actually enhanced his reputation as a fighter, even in defeat.
If you look back at the fight, the young Rhodes actually came on strong in the latter stages, but it was a big ask for him to go up a weight and take on a campaigner like Grant at World level. He had just turned 21.
I know that the Grant fight was not the point at which things went wrong for Ryan.
All sorts of things happen in the fight game that can have an affect upon a fighter's career but all too often if debated openly, are viewed by casual observers as nothing more than excuses and I understand that.
The loss against Matthews was huge, but as Lennox has pointed out, Matthews was huge at the weight, and Ryan never really was a middlweight in stature.
Matthews came in at a few days notice, wrecking Ryan's prep which was all focused on Bert Schenk.
The Blundell affair has been done to death over and over again, so no need to revisit.

[Coco]

So what happened with FW, I assumed because he had been given a reasonable chance, SN weren't willing to invest anymore oney in him and utilised there 2 defeat clause in the contract
I suppose the Hamed fall out didn't help, but I thought as with Maccarinelli he would have still continued with him if he was confident that Ryan would go further, otherwise FW's investment would have been wasted

[twenty six]

I'll PM you mate.

[whicker]

I love what they say at the start- "I don't want to devalue the WBF intercontinental middleweight championship... "

[whicker]

obviously this thread is started by one of smalls crew.

Nah, I wouldn't look for a "Conspiracy" here- Just a heads up I think about a recent upload .

[twenty six]

You're far too trusting Whicker.
Why would someone who has hardly posted in the last gods knows number of years, suddenly just come across this on youtube and think - ooh I know what let's put it on boxrec with no comment.
Bring it on.

[whicker]

Could be I suppose! Still, all in good spirit for the build up! Still, what, 4 weeks to go?

On a similar-ish note, does Anthony Small have a lot fo fans who will travel up?

I know there will be a good number over from Belfast for Magee.

[Captain Hook]

I would love to see small handed his arse.

And I think it will happen, probably in the 9/10th.

I've been critical of Rhodes in the past, and I even fancied Vuma to beat him, but he made VV look pedestrian and average.

Small is a decent boxer but he got smashed by Pryce and is nowhere near as talented as he thinks he is.

[Quixall]

Quixall,
To put you right, Ryan has never been Middleweight Champion.
He was Light Middleweight Champion and remains undefeated at the weight.
The Grant fight was his first at Middlweight.
His performance against Grant actually enhanced his reputation as a fighter, even in defeat.
If you look back at the fight, the young Rhodes actually came on strong in the latter stages, but it was a big ask for him to go up a weight and take on a campaigner like Grant at World level. He had just turned 21.
I know that the Grant fight was not the point at which things went wrong for Ryan.
All sorts of things happen in the fight game that can have an affect upon a fighter's career but all too often if debated openly, are viewed by casual observers as nothing more than excuses and I understand that.
The loss against Matthews was huge, but as Lennox has pointed out, Matthews was huge at the weight, and Ryan never really was a middlweight in stature.
Matthews came in at a few days notice, wrecking Ryan's prep which was all focused on Bert Schenk.
The Blundell affair has been done to death over and over again, so no need to revisit.

I got the Middleweight - Light middleweight titles mixed up.....Fair enough

You know Ryan better than i do and i don't know the ins and outs and don't wish to. All i was saying is that from the casual observers point of view, whether he moved up a weight or not, or whether he did well against Grant in the latter stages of that fight, Rhodes' career went awry from that fight onwards and that is how it's viewed by a lot of people, including Steve Bunce, hence the vdeo i uploaded

I wish Ryan all the best, i like him and hope he can do some things in what remains of his career

[jim wright1]

I always thought twenty six was ryan

I have followed Ryan's career from ringside as a fan for well over a decade and i think he has improved alot of late, and to consider he was pretty good to start with that is quite impressive.

I was there for the Grant and Matthews defeats and there is no way the 2009 Ryan would lose those fights now.

[Spud]

I'll PM you mate.

B*llocks I am sure Mr W arren or his lawyers would not mind at all if you aired your thoughts on here!!!

Ahhh - the wonderful world of boxing politics - if people knew half of the tricks that people get up to in boxing it would make their hair curl - feel sorry for boxers sometimes - unless they have a switched on trainer/manager a boxer can be lead a merry dance!!! - not that I am accusing or eluding Mr W arren has ever done that!!!

[SOUTHPAW]

Lets hope that Small thinks that he only has to beat that Ryan Rhodes..........he is in for a big shock even Ryan at 70% will beat him

[black panther]

Ryan looked to be something special in his early professional years, following right in Hamed footsteps, and more importantly was in FW's cleak.
Unfortunately after getting caught by Jason Matthews, which should have been a routine vacant WBO shot, his confidence seemed badly damaged, and obviously Blundell damaged it further.
Suddenly from being a dangerous banger he looked gunshy and didn't want to step in to get his shots off for fear of getting caught.
The rebuilding process hasn't been short, and I dunno if he'll ever get back to his former self.
Nevertheless he is still British Champ and hopefully he has bigger fights ahead of him, I hope he wins in his next defence too

Absolutely agree with all of that - good post. I hope Ryan beats Small - best of luck Ryan.
LM isn't the deepest division but the guys at the top are real class acts: Forrest, Santos, Williams and Dzinduruk. But Williams aside they are all getting on in age a bit so who knows what opportunites may arise in future.