Canelo Alvarez Fights Brit Ryan Rhodes On Saturday

HBO SPORTS GOES SOUTH OF THE BORDER FOR A SUPER WELTERWEIGHT TITLE SHOWDOWN AND A JUNIOR LIGHTWEIGHT SLUGFEST WHEN HBO BOXING AFTER DARK^®:  CANELO ALVAREZ VS. RYAN RHODES AND ADRIEN BRONER VS. JASON LITZAU IS SEEN SATURDAY, JUNE 18

HBO’s hit late-night boxing franchise goes south of the border for an action-packed doubleheader when HBO BOXING AFTER DARK:  CANELO ALVAREZ VS. RYAN RHODES AND ADRIEN BRONER VS. JASON LITZAU is seen SATURDAY, JUNE 18 at 10:30 p.m. (live ET/ taped-delayed PT), from the Arena Vicente Fernandez Gomez (VFG) in Guadalajara, Mexico, exclusively on HBO.  The HBO Sports team will call all the action, which will be available in HDTV, closed-captioned for the hearing-impaired and presented in Spanish on HBO Latino.

Other HBO playdates:  June 19 (10:15 a.m.) and 20 (1:00 a.m.)

HBO2 playdates:  June 19 (3:00 p.m.) and 21 (11:00 p.m.)

The main event features one of boxing’s brightest young stars, as 20-year-old phenom Canelo Alvarez (36-0-1, 26 KOs) defends his super welterweight title for the first time against powerhouse Ryan Rhodes (45-4, 31 KOs), from Sheffield, United Kingdom in a scheduled 12-round bout.  Riding a tidal wave of momentum after his unanimous decision victory over Matthew Hatton to claim a title belt in March, Alvarez wants to prove he is poised to become one of boxing’s elite.  When he steps into the ring in front of hometown fans, Alvarez will likely look to wear down ring veteran Rhodes with his notoriously quick combinations of punches and a steady dose of youthful energy.

At age 34, southpaw Rhodes has seen just about everything there is to see in the ring and will likely draw on his experience to outmaneuver, outstrategize and outbox his younger and faster foe, arguably presenting Alvarez with the toughest test of his career to date.

Kicking off the night will be an electrifying junior lightweight bout featuring undefeated Adrien Broner (20-0, 16 KOs), out of Cincinnati, going toe-to-toe with Jason Litzau (28-2, 21 KOs) of St. Paul in a scheduled ten-round bout.  Coming off a hard-earned victory over Daniel Ponce De Leon in his last HBO appearance, the flashy Broner seeks to prove that triumph was not a fluke and is a force to be reckoned with in the 130-pound ranks.  Litzau, who scored a stirring win over Celestino Caballero last November on HBO, is sure to ignite the crowd with his explosive punch combinations and determination.

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The executive producer of HBO BOXING AFTER DARK is Rick Bernstein; producer, Jon Crystal; director, Mike Sheehan.

® HBO BOXING AFTER DARK is a registered service mark of Home Box Office, Inc.