Junior welterweight contender Lydell Rhodes is looking to make some big moves in 2016, by moving down in weight. Rhodes has been outsized in most of his fights, but still has put together a record of 23-1-1 with his only defeat coming against undefeated Sergey Lipinets. Rhodes is hoping to come down two weight classes and compete for a title against the elite of the super featherweight division.

In this “On The Ropes” interview with Lydell Rhodes, I talk with him about his lone defeat of his career and what changes has made going forward. Rhodes also talks about his plans to move down in weight and which fights he is looking to take in that weight class. Additionally Lydell talks about the future of Floyd Mayweather Jr and what Pacquiao can do different in a rematch. Here is what Lydell Rhodes had to say.

Jenna J: Lydell the last time we saw you in the ring was against Sergey Lipinets in which you lost close on points, what did you learn from that fight?

Lydell Rhodes: That fight helped me learn a lot, from how to fight to what the judges want to see, holding my ground and delivering more blows and counter a little bit more. In the gym I’ve been working on not giving ground work and using more head movement to counter off shots and keep me in range to hurt my opponents and make them pay instead of letting them off the hook by making them miss me and just circling around. It’s helped my style to get better and it made me a more complete fighter from taking a loss and learning from it.

Jenna J: Would you like to have a rematch with Lipinets?

Lydell Rhodes: Yes most definitely, I’d love to have that fight again down the road. Also, I didn’t even have a whole camp in, I didn’t train until two weeks before the fight. Next time I’ll definitely have everything going because I have a great team now. I got a team together, right after the fight I focused on getting a complete team. Besides that, it will probably be a while because that wasn’t the weight that I was going to go at.

That fight was at 140lbs and my next fight will be at 130lbs, we’re going to do a catch weight of 133lbs. We’re actually trying to get a title shot or a number one contender fight, right now we are negotiating for that. I would like a rematch after I take out a couple of champions at 130 and 135lbs, then maybe come back up to 140 again and get that rematch.

As of right now, there’s so many great fights, they are action packed fights that I know everyone wants to see at 130lbs because you have so many guys that are action fighters. There’s a lot of good fights to be made down there at 130lbs, so that’s where I’m headed.

Jenna J: Do you think you could comfortably fight at 130lbs?

Lydell Rhodes: Yeah I think I can with a diet because before that last fight with Lipinets, I was 136lbs the day before weight ins and he was struggling to make 140lbs. I originally didn’t know the fight was at 140 and that was another thing that messed me up because it wasn’t originally supposed to be at 140 but that’s what it ended up being. I can make 135 easy and 130 I can make on a strict diet. It’s just about getting my body used to going down and dropping that weight, so that’s why the first one will be at 133 and then after that, 130 here I come.

Jenna J: I want to get your thoughts on a few things going in the sport. Floyd Mayweather Jr. is still retired. Do you see any fight that could bring him back?

Lydell Rhodes: I feel like he’s retired now but if you give him the right money, I feel like he’ll come back for the right opponent. If it’s not too much risk for the reward, he would come out but I don’t think he’ll come out for Gennady Golovkin at 160lbs, that doesn’t make sense when he can fight a guy like Manny Pacquiao and make way more, which would be a tough fight in itself.

Maybe a fight with Adrien Broner might sell but it probably won’t do as big in numbers as a Manny Pacquiao fight but he can do Adrien Broner or Danny Garcia where in my eyes he has a 95% chance of winning. Pacquiao has slightly better odds but Floyd will do his thing against anyone in the world, so if he was to come back it would be for one of those three fights.

Jenna J: You recently sparred with Manny Pacquiao and I’m wondering if you see anything that Manny could do different to get a win if he ever got a rematch with Floyd Mayweather?

Lydell Rhodes: I heard that his shoulder really was damaged, so going into the fight as close to 100% as possible would be the way that he could have a better fight or win, or he could make it a more competitive fight. Going in at 100% would be it because just naturally with his style and throwing that many punches, Floyd knows how to neutralize people where you don’t get off as much offense but Manny is one of those guys that’s relentless whether he’s missing or landing, he’s going to continue to throw. He didn’t do that in the first fight so I do believe his shoulder was messed up, but still a lot has to do with Floyd.

Jenna J: At 130lbs, you got Francisco Vargas, Roman Martinez, Orlando Salido. Out of those three guys, who would you most want to face?

Lydell Rhodes: I feel that Francisco Vargas is the best one but I’d fight any of them. Salido is rough and rugged, I think I match up really well with Rocky Martinez because he doesn’t come as wild or hard paced as the other guys but whichever one they gave me first I’ll fight. Martinez would be probably the easiest fight for me out of the three.