Lydell Rhodes: “I see Manny Pacquiao tearing Adrien Broner up. It’s not even a close fight”

This past Tuesday night at the Sands Casino in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, the latest edition of FS1’s Toe-to-Toe Tuesday saw an interesting ring encounter between lightweight contenders Lydell Rhodes and Edner Cherry. At the end of a scheduled ten round bout, most people saw a clear winner with Rhodes controlling most of the fight with his boxing, but when the score cards were read, the judges had it 98-92 twice & 97-93 all for Edner Cherry.

I recently had a chance to speak to Lydell Rhodes and get his views on what most people feel is a robbery decision. Lydell talks about how he feels he did in the fight and how he thinks the bout should have been scored. Rhodes also talks about possibly contesting the decision, his future boxing forward and if he would like a rematch. Additionally, Lydell gave his thoughts on the recent Thurman-Porter bout and his views on a Pacquiao vs. Broner fight. Here is what Lydell Rhodes had to say.

Robert Brown: You’re coming off of a controversial loss to Edner Cherry. How many rounds could you have given to Edner Cherry?

Lydell Rhodes: Not many. There were a couple of rounds where he landed flush — he landed a left hook in the second round, he landed a hook in the tenth round — there were a couple of close rounds, but I landed more shots. He threw more in some rounds but they were big looping shots and they were going way over my head.

When he started outworking me, I made him miss all of his shots and in between those shots, I was catching him clean. I would say the most anyone could give him was maybe four rounds, but I thought I had a clean sweep. I could only give him one or two at the most, in my eyes.

Robert Brown: What were the thoughts going through your head when you heard the decision?

Lydell Rhodes: I was listening to the decision but I really wasn’t, I wasn’t really listening to the scores, I was just waiting for my name because I talked to Edner and I saw the look in his face where he knew he had lost. I even looked across at his homeboy, Keith Thurman, and he was down. They pretty much all looked like they knew they had lost, so I was just waiting for my name to be called. When they said his name, I was in disbelief, it was crazy.

Robert Brown: What’s the next step now? Are you going to appeal the decision or will you seek an immediate rematch with Cherry?

Lydell Rhodes: Those are both options. I heard a couple of people say that I should go and try to appeal the decision, and even his coach came up to me and told me that he didn’t agree with the decision and the scores and he said, “You guys should fight a rematch.” I think that would be a great fight but my ultimate thing is, what leads to a title?

I feel like I’m ready for anyone, I’m ready for a title shot. If we could get a vacant title or if it would be a number one contender match, then I would be up for a rematch. If he wins a title, I’d like to fight him, or if I win a title, I’d like my first defense to be against him. I would like to fight him again.

Robert Brown: There are rumors that Manny Pacquiao is going to come out of retirement and fight Adrien Broner. What are your thoughts on that fight?

Lydell Rhodes: I hope it does. I’m real close with Manny and Broner is actually a cool guy when the cameras aren’t on him, but if I have to be honest, I see Manny tearing Adrien up. It’s not even a close fight.

Robert Brown: Do you see Manny knocking Adrien Broner out?

Lydell Rhodes: I don’t know if I’d go that far, but there is a possibility of that. I would lean towards a decision because Broner is a tough guy, he lasted with Maidana who is a powerful puncher and he was coming on strong. Broner is no pushover and as much as people don’t like him, he does have the heart of a warrior and he’s going to stay in there.

I don’t know if I see Broner getting stopped but it is a real possibility when you’re in there with Manny, because Broner has never fought anyone like him. Maidana doesn’t have close to the work rate that Manny does.

Robert Brown: Keith Thurman recently defeated Shawn Porter in a very good fight. Do you feel there should be a rematch?

Lydell Rhodes: Yeah I would like to see a rematch. I’m pretty sure everybody in the world would like to see a rematch of that one because they’d beat the hell out of each other.

Robert Brown: Who did you think won the fight?

Lydell Rhodes: It’s gonna sound funny because my style of fighting is more geared towards boxing but I think that Shawn kind of outhustled him and controlled it a little more than I thought. I thought that Keith would keep him off a little more but I’m boys with Shawn and I knew he was good but he impressed me, he did a lot of good things.

Porter took a lot of big shots but I still thought he pulled off more rounds than Keith. I still think it was really close, but I think it could have been 115-113 the other way around, with Shawn winning. It was still a close fight where you could have gave it to Keith but I felt that Shawn Porter won by a round or so.

Robert Brown: If the fight with Manny Pacquiao and Broner does happen and Manny impressively knocked out Broner, do you think that could open up the possibility for a Mayweather-Pacquiao rematch?

Lydell Rhodes: Yeah I could see Floyd coming out of retirement for that. If Manny goes out there and dominated Broner — who is calling out Floyd — and stops him, then Manny looks rejuvenated. Then you could have another close to a billion dollar fight. It was crazy how much money they brought to the city.

Robert Brown: Do you think that a rejuvenated Manny could cause a different result?

Lydell Rhodes: I don’t know if the result would change, but I know it would be a totally different fight. Floyd is hard, he has a great style for anyone, he can adjust and do whatever he wants to anyone. I’m all about team Manny, so I would hope for the best but I can’t really tell you who would win that fight.