Known as the original ‘Spice Boy’ from his days as a flashy youngster during the Britpop scene, Rhodes became the youngest fighter since the war to win the British title when picking up the Lonsdale belt in 1996.
Rhodes would then go on to fight for a world title just one year later, before enjoying success in his later years by picking up another British belt at 31, and the European title in 2009 with a world-class performance against Jamie Moore.
The Sheffield fighter would ultimately fail in his bid to overthrow the formidable Saul Alvarez on the youngster’s home soil in his final world title shot last year and a defeat to Sergei Rabchenko in his most recent outing obviously led to today’s decision to step away.
The southpaw ends his career with a remarkable 46-6 record with 31 stoppages and will be sorely missed from competitive boxing – with that sentiment echoed by friend and former trainer David Coldwell today, and a working capacity at Coldwell Boxing has to be a possibility for Rhodes in the future.
