Ryan Rhodes knows first-hand the threat that Sergey Rabchenko poses to Kell Brook as they clash for the WBC Silver Super-Welterweight title on Saturday night at the FlyDSA Arena in Sheffield live on Sky Sports – but expects Brook to shine on his debut at 154lbs.

Sheffield star Rhodes met the Belarussian in June 2012 for the European Super-Welterweight title in Manchester, with Rabchenko stopping Rhodes with a body shot at the end of the seventh round.

Rabchenko now meets Rhodes’ fellow Steel City son Brook in ‘The Special One’s’ first fight at him new weight, and the ‘Spice Boy’ expects his fellow Ingle Gym product to prevail but says Rabchenko is a dangerous customer.

“Rabchenko is a good fighter,” said Rhodes. “He’s strong, got a bit of a dig on him and when he’s on song he’s a handful. He was on a bit of a high when I boxed him, Ricky Hatton was looking after him at the time and was keeping him active.

“Sergey can take a shot as well. I caught him with a big shot in the third round and his legs dipped but credit to him – he rode the storm and ended up recovering to get the win.

“I was 95 years old and in my 293rd fight when I fought Rabchenko, so Kell has nothing to worry about! I was coming to the latter stages of my career. There wasn’t much in the fight, it was back and forth and then he caught me with a sickening body shot.

“One thing Kell will find is that he’s there to be hit. He stands in front of you all the time, he won’t move that much. It might be that Kell takes a shot to give one back.

“I was at a couple of Rabchenko fights before we fought, I knew it was going to happen so studied him up close and personal. The one thing that stood out was his movement. I planned to be as elusive as possible, make sure I’m not there to get hit and counter.

“Kell seems to be hungry again. You can’t worry about these ifs and buts, he looks happy at the minute and confident with that little bit of extra weight. I know how badly Kell struggled at times to make 147lbs. He’s got that extra 7lbs to play with which will be a massive difference.

“Kell could have gone for an easier touch for his first fight at the new weight but it’s a name and decent test. Sergey won the WBC Silver title and has only lost to two decent kids.

“Kell doesn’t want to be in this game for too many more years so there’s no point in taking an easy ride. He won’t learn anything from that at this stage of his career. He’s coming back for a test and hopefully it goes rounds.

“They’ve sparred so Kell will know what he’s like. I’m pretty sure I saw them both spar years ago, Kell had the edge from what I remember. It was a tough spar but Brook had the advantage in every department.

“I think it’ll either be a late stoppage or go the distance. Rabchenko knows Kell’s his golden ticket and might be a little cagey. It’s a massive opportunity for him and catapults him into the mix. If I’m honest, Kell will have too much for him. His speed, accuracy, counter punching should be too much for him.

“There’s some big fights for Kell out there – with or without World titles. The Charlo brothers are great fighters, Liam Williams I think would be a barnstormer and of course Amir Khan. If Khan does go ahead, I just hope Kell stands his ground a little and they can meet at a catchweight. I wouldn’t like to see drain himself anymore and it’s not as if Khan hasn’t gone up in weight. I’m sure Khan would make some serious money like the Canelo fight and it’s a fight the fans still talk about.”

Brook and Rabchenko clash on a huge night of action in the Steel City with the chief support provided by a crunch showdown between world-rated Super-Bantamweights Gamal Yafai and Gavin McDonnell.

David Allen is hunting revenge in his rematch with Commonwealth Heavyweight champion Lenroy Thomas, Rotherham Lightweight rivals Lee Appleyard and Atif Shafiq lock horns while Kid Galahad aims to get into the title mix at Featherweight after a meeting with Irving Berry – Leigh Wood and Rocky Fielding complete the line-up.

Tickets Brook’s clash with Rabchenko are priced £40, £60, £80, £100, £150 and £250 VIP and are available from the FlyDSA Arena at www.flydsaarena.co.uk and on 0114 2565656. VIP tickets are exclusively available from www.matchroomboxing.com

Face value tickets for March 3 are available from http://www.stubhub.co.uk/matchroom-boxing-tickets/ . StubHub is the official ticket partner and marketplace of Matchroom Boxing and Anthony Joshua.

Hot shot youngster, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez made the first defense of the WBC Super Welterweight title with a twelfth round stoppage over mandatory challenger Ryan Rhodes in front of over 12,000 partisan fans in Alvarez hometown of Guadalajara, Mexico.

Alvarez began to set the pace over the first three rounds by relaxing while unleashing crisp and quick combination’s that were usually ended with a few to the body. In rounds, four, Alvarez landed a right that was followed by a double and the a little right behind ear sent an off-balance Rhodes to the canvas for the sixth time in his career.

Alvarez continued his combination punch as Rhodes switched from orthodox to southpaw multiple times during most rounds.

Alvarez continued to set a workmanlike pace as he fought in quick bursts about three or four times per round as he knew that Rhodes was no threat as he didn’t fire much of anything back in return.

With the fight never in doubt, Alvarez closed the show in style as he landed some hard shots in the middle of the ring and after nine successive blows the bout was stopped in unison with the towel being thrown in from Rhodes corner forty-eight seconds into the final round.

Alavarez of Guadalajara, Mexico is now 37-0-1 with twenty-seven knockouts. Rhodes of Sheffield, England was making the second attempt at a world title now falls to 45-5.

Adrien Broner scored an emphatic first round stoppage over Jason Litzau in a Super Featherweight bout.

After not much action in the first two minutes, Broner landed a hard right on the ropes that hurt Litzau. Broner jumped on Litzau and landed a couple of wild shots before landing a crunching uppercut that was followed by a left hook that crumpled Litzau to the canvas along the ropes and referee Curtis Thrasher stopped the fight immediately at 2:58 of the opening round.

Broner, 128 1/2 lbs of Cincinnati, OH is now 21-0 with seventeen knockoffs. Litzau, 130 lbs of St. Paul, Minnesota is now 28-3.

Follow all the action LIVE as undefeated sensation, Saul Alvarez makes the 1st defense of the WBC Super Welterweight title against tough Englishman Ryan Rhodes. The action begins at 10:30 pm eastern/9:30 in Guadalajara and 3:30 am Sunday in Britan. Before the main event there will be an interesting Jr. Lightweight tussle between undefeated Adrien Broner and Jason Litzau

12 Rounds–WBC Super Welterweight title–Saul Alvarez (36-0-1, 26 KO’s) vs Ryan Rhodes (45-4, 31 KO’s)

Round 1 Left from Rhodes…Alvarez lands a right..another right…10-9 Alvarez

Round 2 Alvarez lands a good combination./..right hook…left to the body..uppercut to the body…right/left combo..right hand…20-18 Alvarez

Round 3 Left hands…30-27 Alvarez

Round 4: Alvarez lands a right..Double left hook/body…right to the head…COMBINATION AND DOWN GOES RHODES…Body shot…40-35 Alvarez

Round 5: Jab followed by a combination by Alvarez..Body shots..Ripping combainations…50-44 Alvarez

Round 6: Rhodes lands a left hook…Good right…hook to the body..Alvarez lands a combiantion…counter…59-54 Alvarez

Round 7 Alvarez landing hard combinations…works the body and head…Rhodes cut under the right..69-63 Alvarez

Round 8 Alvarez lands a nice combination…another combination…Rhodes responds with a counter right…Alvarez lands a double left…hard body shots on the ropes…Good left to the body…79-72 Alvarez

Round 9: More of the same where Alvarez landing combinations and Rhodes not offering much in return…89-81 Alvarez

Round 10 Good body work that sets up hard and quick combinations..Rhodes taking it…99-90 Alvarez

Round 11: Body shots and right to the head from Alvarez…109-99 Alvarez

Round 12

10 Rounds–Super Featherweights–Adrien Broner (20-0, 16 KO’s) vs Jason Litzau (28-2, 21 KO’s)
Round 1 Broner lands a right on the ropes…...HUGE UPPERCUT DOWN GOES LITZAU AND THE FIGHT IS OVER

According to Dan Rafael of espn.com, newly crowned WBC Super Welterweight champion Saul Alvarez will make his first defense against Ryan Rhodes of England on June 18th in Mexico in a bout that will be televised by HBO.

“For me it is so huge, but for my Mexican people it’s going to be even bigger,” Alvarez said backstage at the weigh-in for Saturday night’s Erik Morales-Marcos Maidana fight at MGM Grand Garden Arena. “It was my dream to have my first defense in Mexico and now the dream is reality. I am very happy.”

“After seeing the ratings Canelo had, the highest [‘Boxing After Dark’] ratings in like three years, they obviously are very interested to have Canelo back live on the network,” Golden Boy Promotions Richard Schaefer said of the new television arrangement. “To have Canelo live on HBO before he does his first pay-per-view is the right approach.”

Featherweight contender Daniel Ponce De Leon of Mexico will open the HBO telecast, Schaefer said. Ponce De Leon (41-3, 34 KOs), a former junior featherweight titleholder, fought his last bout on the Alvarez-Hatton undercard, when he moved up to junior lightweight and lost a close, debatable decision to prospect Adrien Broner.

Ponce De Leon’s opponent has not been signed yet. “We have two names we are talking about, so we are working on it,” Schaefer said.

“They criticize Canelo for fighting smaller guys like Jose Cotto or Matthew Hatton. Now he’s actually fighting a bigger guy, a substantially bigger guy, because Ryan Rhodes has fought many middleweight fights,” Schaefer said. “He’s a big guy, he’s a strong guy and it’s a real, real test. I told Canelo this is a very tough guy and Canelo looked at me, flexed his muscles and said, ‘So am I.’ ”

Said Alvarez: “I respect my opponent. He is a real opponent. He has fought at middleweight. He’s a real, real challenger. I could do an optional defense, but I choose a real opponent. I just want to prove to the people and media that I am capable of dealing with those type of fighters.”