By Adam Fillingham: Ryan Rhodes the newly crowned European Boxing Union light middleweight champion is the newest addition to the list of British fringe world title contenders. This comes after his 7th round knock out of former champion and fellow Brit Jamie Moore in one of the fights of the year. This is a great win, one of the best of his career, but there were definitely holes on his game plan.

I’m not sure whether it is due to him aging or if it just wasn’t a good day for Rhodes but his head movement and agility was not what it once was, when the chips were down. As soon as things were going well for him his head movement and agility suddenly sparked up in a blink. This isn’t a good thing for Rhodes if he does get his desired title shot against WBC champion Sergio Gabriel Martinez.

Rhodes was impressive in the last half of the fight with Jamie Moore and was very competitive whilst loosing rounds in the first half. Rhodes once again showed how heavy handed he is, not only with the brutal knock down and eventual knock out, but with virtually all the shots he connected with. This wasn’t due to Moore having a week chin, or not being able to take punches, as Moore is one of the toughest opponents around, at least at British level.

His chin in the fight was exceptional, and was hit many times by Moore, with plenty of power behind them and took them like they were just kisses. Very rarely in the fight did Rhodes look hurt or rocked.

When Rhodes wanted to, his ring movement was fantastic. In the latter half of the seven round fight, Rhodes boxed circles round the man from Salford. He looked quick on his feet and had a good spring in his step even when Moore was piling in the pressure. His speed was also exceptional and was, in my opinion, the reason for Rhodes’ victory.

The main thing for Rhodes if he is to win the fight against Martinez (if he gets his world title fight) is his bravery. To stand in front of the toughest opponent Britain has to offer, and a world ranked number 3 with power and a great chin, and trade with him punch for punch was unbelievable. Moore put his chin to the test and Rhodes passed the test with flying colours.

Now to the criticism. I can’t really knock the victory at all as Rhodes fought the fight of his life. There is one thing that niggled me a little and that was his slightly leaky defence. If you want to win a world title, you have to defeat a world champion and to beat a world champion you cannot have a leaky defence.

That is the only criticism I have of Rhodes though.

So will Rhodes win a world title and defeat the fast Sergio Gabriel Martinez? I think he has a great chance against the Argentinian, but Rhodes cannot stand and trade like he did against Moore because Matinez is in a different class. Martinez has fast yet powerful hands, a good chin and has fought a handful of credible opponents. Sergio is flawed though as he too eats a lot of shots that he shouldn’t.

Ryan Rhodes Vs Sergio Gabriel Martinez a fight a lots of people want to see.

*note* Sergio Gabriel Martinez is fighting Paul Williams at middleweight on the 5Th of December 2009 and there may be a chance that his WBC title is Vacated.