I remember back in college I was a fanatical fan of our college basketball team. I was at every home game, decked out in our school colors, starting chants and yelling obscenities at the opposing team’s players. I was such an avid supporter of the schools team that the players themselves took note and many of them became friends, often inviting me to their parties or me throwing bashes in their honor. Those were memorable times but the most memorable and often dreaded moments I remember from looking back is when I would travel to support the team into the Lion’s Den; the opposing teams home court. God, the feeling gave me the chills, anxiety and stress. There were a few times I was honestly convinced I would get jumped due to the amount of venom that was spewed from my tongue.
It was normal to get beers thrown at me, popcorn, chips and every sort of random thing you can imagine. Now take that and times it by a magnitude of ten and add ravenous Mexican fight fans, which are known to throw bottles of urine at their rivals in order to just mess with them for their total enjoyment. It doesn’t matter if you’re a fan, a visiting family or an opponent. You will get something thrown at you if you’re at the wrong place at the wrong time. This is what awaits any traveling English fans and Ryan Rhodes who himself steps into the lion dens as he will attempt to dethrone Saul “Canelo” Alvarez in his hometown of Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico this Saturday.
The undefeated Mexican, who sports spit fire red hair has a record of 36-0 and though Rhodes is vastly more experienced, Alvarez is the defending WBC light middleweight champion.
One ardent supporter of Rhodes is boxing great Ricky Hatton. He kind of has to be a ardent supporter of Rhodes when you think of it, being that they both are English and Rhodes is signed under Hatton’s promotional company (Hatton Promotions) but taking that aside, Hatton feels Rhodes has a real chance at beating the combination punching Alvarez who is seeking a Manny Pacquaio bout a year from now.
In this Fight Hub TV exclusive, Hatton explains why he thinks Rhodes has the experience and power to blemish the perfect record of Alvarez. Rhodes is a big underdog but who would have ever imagined that Nobuhiro Ishida would of knocked down James Kirkland three times en route to a TKO victory a few months back? It is moments like this that make combat sports so exciting. So make sure you tune in to HBO this Saturday at 7 pm PT/ET as Rhodes attempts to etch his name in the history books by upsetting Saul “Canelo” Alvarez in a year that has already provided a handful of upsets.
