Gallant Rhodes is forced into stoppage

Rhodes was a heavy underdog going into the bout and lived up to that status, with trainer Dave Coldwell throwing in the towel at the same moment the referee decided to end the one-sided contest.

Rhodes, 34, consistently failed to get to grips with a world champion 14 years his junior and found himself on the canvas in the fourth round.

The Yorkshireman did well to get back up and contest seven further rounds but he offered little in attack and it was unsurprising when Alvarez put an end to things with a late salvo that ended his opponent’s resistance.

n Luke Campbell cruised into the last 16 of the European Championships in Ankara on Saturday while there was also a superb international debut from super-heavyweight Anthony Joshua.

Hull bantamweight Campbell, unbeaten in international competition since 2009, beat Latvia’s Dimitrijs Gutmans 20-6, steadily extending his lead throughout a one-sided contest.

Campbell, who won the title in 2008 but was denied the chance to defend it due to injury, said: “Things are going well at the moment but I need to continue the good form through this event and beyond to the Olympics.”

Joshua, from Finchley, hinted he could yet provide the answer to Great Britain’s higher weight woes as he pulled off a superb 23-16 victory over Germany’s former world junior silver medallist Eric Brechlin.

In his first major senior competition, Joshua controlled the contest with a booming right hand which forced Brechlin to take a standing count midway through the second round.

But there was disappointment for Scarborough heavyweight Danny Price, who performed solidly against young Russian Abdulkhamid Nurmagomedov but fell to a 19-14 defeat.

Welsh light-welterweight Fred Evans was an impressive 17-8 winner over Denmark’s Torben Holdt Keller, but fellow Welshmen Sean McGoldrick and Chris Jenkins, plus Scots Joe Ham and Aston Brown, bowed out.

Ireland’s excellent start continued with four more winners on day two. John Joe Nevin, Willie McLaughlin, Con Sheehan and Cathal McMonagle made it five wins out of five for the Irish so far.