Injuries Galore as Rhodes and Harrison Suffer Sparring Knocks

It seems someone has a problem with British boxers this week, as Ryan Rhodes and Audley Harrison became the 2nd and 3rd people to suffer an injury in a week. On Tuesday Scott brought you the story that Darren Barker suffered a hip injury putting his fight into dispute against Dmitry Pirog.

Obviously I don't mean that these things are controlled by some greater power...I'm just saying this is bloody unlucky for all three fighters.

Firstly Rhodes has been forced out of his fight (due to take place March 24th) against Sergey Rachchenko. The two were due to square off for the European light-middleweight title, but Rhodes has suffered a recurrence of the back injury that forced him to give up the belt back in 2010.

The 35-year-old from Sheffield suffered the injury when sparring against Welsh prospect Kerry Hope.

Rhodes' trainer Dave Coldwell said:

"It's an ongoing problem but to be honest we've had a clear run with him and he had been looking better than ever. He's been in the gym twice a week since his last fight and had kept the weight down, he was looking really sharp.

He's got to rest and get intensive treatment and will not be training for 3-4 weeks, but when they get it on in the summer I'm 100% confident he'll do a job on Rabchenko."

The original bill will see Gary Buckland defend his British super-featherweight title against Paul Truscott, with Rabchenko fighting in an eight-rounder on the undercard.

As for Harrison, his return to the ring has been postponed to due an elbow injury in sparring. He was due to take on Ali Adams on April 14th, but will not fight May 26th in a bid to make a comeback after his horror show against David Haye. Harrison has been told to rest the arm for a solid month, before training again.

"I'll keep in shape and as soon as I can start punching again I'm off. I already know Ali Adams has talked himself into a lot of trouble come May 26th. I will be there on 26th May!"

I know not many people will care anymore about Harrison, I don't blame them. His 'Yes I can' claims were crude to say the least. However I'd much rather see him pull-out of the fight, then take it and complain after when he loses. He did this against Haye, claiming he was hurt and his plan was to wait till late on and connect with one big punch...his excuse for not landing a single shot I believe.

Rhodes will need to be careful, at 35 he's not got the time to keep getting these injuries. He's clearly a fit man and I hope he comes back just as good as I like him as a boxer, no nonsense just there to win. A bad back though can end most people's sporting careers and let's hope it is just a minor blip.