Ryan Rhodes has announced he is hanging up the gloves at the age of 35.

The Sheffield-born boxer, who started out in the famous Wincobank gym alongside Prince Naseem Hamed, has decided to bring the curtain down on his 52-fight professional career after losing to Sergey Rabchenko in June.

Rhodes - nicknamed the 'Spice Boy' - lost just six times in a topsy-turvy career, with three of those defeats coming when challenging for the world title.

As a light-middleweight, Rhodes became the youngest post-war holder of a British belt when he defeated fellow Sheffield fighter Paul 'Silky' Jones in just his 10th bout as a pro.

He stepped up to middleweight to challenge Otis Grant for the vacant WBO strap in 1997, only to lose by unanimous decision on the judges' scorecards.

Rhodes again came up just short on the world stage against Gary Lockett nine years later, leading to him dropping back down to light-middle.

The move led to a late renaissance - a ninth-round KO of Gary Woolcombe saw him get his hands back on the Lonsdale belt and he then added the European crown by stopping Jamie Moore in a thriller in Bolton.

But a brave bid to take the WBC title from classy Mexican Saul Alvarez saw him stopped in the 12th last year and after failing to conquer Europe again this summer, Rabchenko getting the better of him in the seventh round of their clash in Manchester, Rhodes has decided the time is right to call it quits.