By Nabil Hassan

Rhodes challenged for the WBO crown way back in 1997

Sheffield's Ryan Rhodes made a successful first defence of his European light-middleweight title by defeating Luca Messi.

Rhodes, 33, had his opponent down as early as the first round, with a chopping left flooring the Italian.

More punishment continued with Rhodes sending Messi to the canvas once again in the third and a body shot in the sixth round again left him on the deck.

And with Messi still shaken, the fight was stopped that same round.

Rhodes looked sharp from the off, landing at will with the right jab while also picking his opponent off with the left - and it was the left that did the early damage as a chopping punch towards the end of the first round caught Messi flush in the face and sent him to the canvas.

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The Italian challenger 35, upped his work rate in the second, but it only resulted in the Italian walking on to another fine left which rocked him, as Rhodes found the cleaner shots in an entertaining round.

Rhodes continued to cause Messi trouble in the third with a stunning straight left which floored his opponent at the start of the round.

With Messi in trouble a right to the body rocked Despite taking several thunderous punches towards the end of the round Messi managed to hold on.

To his credit Messi came forward in the fourth but Rhodes took everything that was thrown at him, catching the Italian on the counter with the right hook.

Rhodes showed his class in the fifth with some fine punches that slipped the guard of Messi - who had little response to his opponent's speed and power.

A body shot sent Messi to the canvas for the third time at the start of the sixth round and the writing was on the wall for the challenger.

An uppercut soon after rocked the Italian once again and after he took more punishment the fight was stopped by the referee.

It was the 44th victory of Rhodes' 48-fight career and he is now hoping for a world title shot.

"We'll have a few meeting with a few different people to discuss what path I'm going to take - and if not a world title shot, then I'd love to defend my European title against my mandatory challenger [Czech Lukas Konecny]," he said.

Rhodes was unsurprised by his destructive performance against Messi, adding: "My trainer Dave Coldwell said if I caught him with my right hand like I've been doing in the gym, he would go.

"I was catching him early on and thinking 'he's a tough kid' because these 10-ounce gloves are like having no gloves on at all. But I hit him with some good shots and full respect to him for taking what he did."

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