A toughie. Rhodes' inactivity would go against him at this stage. He'd certainly provide Alvarez with a tough stylistic challenge, could walk him onto something. Alvarez, points in a closely contested battle. One things for sure if Alvarez brings the heat 'Old Spice' has the grit to fire back. Good matchup. Shame it'll never happen.
I'll say Rhodes would need to stop Alvarez to win, certainly. He could feasibly do it. Not sold on Alvarez's punch resistance but Rhodes is a sporadic banger and I think Alvarez is above the opponents Rhodes has stopped as of late. Caught cold or not, I can't get the image out of my head of an average lightweight (and Cotto always was just 'decent', despite what people now like to say) buzzing him. And the fact that Baldomir, N'Dou and Hatton have never been punchers. And the fact the only reason Cuello was seen as a decent opponent is because he did well against a total hype job in Chavez Jr. In short, I'm not sold on Alvarez. But he'd beat Berto IMO.
not copmparing the 2 here, just out of interest, but how old and how many fights til people really started to take notice of Chavez :think
Chavez was prety young when he won his first title at super feather. He wasn't getting knocked around by blown up Banams either :yep :good The internet wasn't available in the early-to-mid 80s to get the hype train going either :deal Rob, send me this PM mate, only got 20 minutes of lunch left :good
Age and inactivity would go against Ryan in this fight, it would be a tough outing for him, he would really give Alvarez something to think about, it's not beyond him though...:yep I feel a bit let down with Alvarez, all this top spin in the media, he should have taken Hatton apart, Alvarez is all gong and no dinner for me at the moment...:yep
By the end of 1985 when he was 23 he'd won a world title, defended impressively a few times and people were wanting to see him move up to 135 and take on Camacho..
Shame it didn't happen at the right time. Anyways, where are your thoughts on Hagler>>>Monzon (or vice versa)> :hey
didnt he put that off for a few years tho, im sure he did:think Alveraz obviously struggled to make 150, well he couldnt even make it:hey. Wonder how drained he was for the Cotto fight:think
Yeah, it would have been very interesting at 130/135 in 1984-1986. I've always fancied Monzon on points dominating with the jab. I'm sure Hagler could adapt and find a way past it.
That's how I roll. Monzon would force his tempo, but Haglers ability to switch hit, to box or brawl, his chin etc etc would keep him in there and see him turn the tide IMO. Get on Choi and give me your thoughts on their opposition/greatness! Now that is a real topic.