Seconds out for final time as Lund bows out with Rhodes bout
SOUTHPORT’S oldest boxer Jon Lund has bowed out with a final fight against ring legend Ryan Rhodes.
Rhodes, who famously fought Mexican superstar Saul Alvarez in 2011 when the Sheffield based fighter was stopped in the twelfth round.
Jon squared up to Rhodes in the Bold Hotel on Saturday night, when the Sheffield fighter dazzled Jon and the crowd with his ring craft and movement.
Jon , speaking to the Southport Visiter, said: “He was very, very good. He was definitely in a different class to me, and it showed. I thought I had my moments but Ryan was a class act.”
Footage from the fight showed Jon struggling to land right hand shots on his opponent, who shimmied out of range.
Jon, is 50 this week, will not fight competitively again. The Southport dad had told his family that he would hang up his gloves when he turned 50.
He said: “I might still have the odd exhibition or white collar fight, but I will not face another boxer again.
I have been used to training over five days a week, so I can relax a little now. I might cut the runs down to three a week, and I can not stop worrying about my diet. But I will be helping out at Southport Jab club.
“Saturday’s night was one of the best show’s I have ever seen. The prizefighter bout were brilliant, and very competitive.
The overall winner on the night was Southport ’ s Lee Crossland.”
Jon started boxing at Southport YMCA around thirty years ago.
In more recent years he has been based at Southport Jab Fight Club in High Park, and has competed in 59 fights over the last five years.
Jon has two sons, and works at Wilko in Southport. He also does a bit of part-time work on the door of a town centre bar.
In terms of the future the genial Southport man is now looking forward to passing on his boxing skills to the next generation of Southport lads.