Ryan Rhodes stormed back to stop Jamie Moore in a British war today in Bolton. Rhodes is now the European junior middleweight champion. (Photo via i.dailymail.co.uk)

View full size photo »

Ryan Rhodes started slow, but he came back fast. In a thrilling war, Rhodes upset Jamie Moore in Bolton today to win the European junior middleweight title via seventh round stoppage.

Moore dominated the first three rounds, but was rocked at the end of the fourth by Rhodes, who seemed to be fighting Moore's fight, a bad move on the surface. But Rhodes came back to win the fifth round and shake Moore up again in the sixth. Moore, though, battled back and made the sixth a toss-up round.

In the seventh, though, the final momentum shift came. Rhodes put Moore on spaghetti legs with a huge right hand, and Moore crashed to the canvas early in the frame. Rhodes then put the charge on, but Moore's legs appeared to come back fast. It then appeared that Rhodes was shaken a bit, but suddenly he nailed Moore with an overhand right, sending the defending titleholder back into the ropes. Rhodes then unloaded, and referee Howard John Foster called for the bell at 2:35 of the seventh round.

It's a massive win for the 32-year old Rhodes (43-4, 29 KO) and a very, very tough loss for Moore (32-4, 23 KO). Rhodes is now the mandatory for WBC titlist Sergio Martinez, too, and that was a position he was fighting to get into last year when Vernon Forrest held the title.

For Moore, who was pretty much universally ranked in the top ten at 154 pounds, it's back to the drawing board. He appeared to gas pretty badly in this fight, but if he has to move up in weight, he'll find the going quite rough. At just 5'8", he would be a small middleweight, even with his tank-like build.

Congratulations to Ryan Rhodes for his amazingly tough performance, and hats off to both men for a Fight of the Year contender.

The Bad Left Hook Divisional Rankings have been updated accordingly, with previous No. 10 Moore falling out, and Rhodes moving into his spot.

The "War of the Roses" for the European junior middleweight title starts at 5pm ET on Sky Sports. We'll be bringing some very slightly delayed commentary, round-by-round scoring and analysis and results.

To read our short preview of this bout from Tuesday, click here.

JAMIE MOORE		RYAN RHODES
	Main Event

Jamie Moore and Ryan Rhodes may not be the most well-known British names here in the States, but that doesn't mean their Friday night showdown for Moore's European junior middleweight title isn't worth your attention.

The "War of the Roses" is not just for that European strap, though. It will also serve as a WBC title eliminator, meaning the winner would be in line for a shot at Sergio Martinez, and thus a jump to the world stage. Fellow southpaws Moore and Rhodes have so much to gain, and Moore in particular is such an exciting scrapper, that this fight could be a sleeper war on the horizon.

Moore (32-3, 23 KO) is a 30-year old from Salford who has become a wrecking ball since 2005. His last loss was a DQ against Michael Jones, and he has been knocked out twice, against Ossie Duran and Scott Dixon.

But he's also won 12 fights in a row, and 10 of them have come by knockout or stoppage. With his third round knockout of Michele Piccirillo in March of this year, he has likely ended the career of the long-time Italian contender, who challenged for world titles on multiple occasions over his career. He's also knocked out Matthew Macklin, who just torched Amin Asikainen in September, and has a points win over Sebastian Lujan.

The Boxing Bulletin ranked Moore at No. 4 on their British pound-for-pound list last month, with Dave Oakes offering this comment:

He jumps two places on our list due to the defeats of Witter and Woods. He’s already no.1 on the most exciting fighter list and is slowly climbing up this list. Moore looks to be the Brit most likely to capture a world title next year, but he must come through a hard test against Ryan Rhodes later this year before he sets his sights on world glory.

Rhodes (42-4, 28 KO) has had a long, somewhat strange trip of a career. Just after his 20th birthday in 1996, Rhodes won the British title at 154 pounds, and defended it twice before moving on. In 1997, he faced Otis Grant for the vacant WBO middleweight strap, losing a tight decision in his hometown of Sheffield. He challenged for an interim version of the WBO middleweight title in 1999, and was knocked out in the second round by Jason Matthews in Doncaster.

After some bounce-back fights, Lee Blundell stopped him in three in 2002, and since then, he's proven he's a survivor. His only loss since the Blundell debacle has come against former (undeserving, but no less true) middleweight championship challenger Gary Lockett, and he regained the British junior middleweight title in 2008, 11 and a half years after winning it as a young phenom.

Rhodes is a battler. Moore is a battler. And they're going to come not just to win, but to impress. This is one of those eliminator fights where a bout with the titleholder might actually be feasible, after all; Sergio Martinez is finding no one willing to fight him, and either one of these guys could be an attractive option, even if Martinez had to go on the road to get the most money out of it.

Bad Left Hook will do our best -- so to speak -- to bring live, round-by-round coverage on Friday at 5pm ET. This should be a good one.