[1] He attended Deighton High School and as a teenager was a promising athlete and a member of Longwood Harriers before taking up boxing.
[2] In September 1982 he fought another British title eliminator against Graeme Ahmed, this time winning via a third round stoppage.
[2] He was forced to relinquish the title after sustaining an eye injury whilst sparring with Mark Kaylor, but after regaining his fitness he won back the title in 1985, knocking out defending champion Jimmy Cable in the first round, and successfully defended it against Mick Courtney to win the Lonsdale Belt outright.
[3] He lost a non-title fight in November against Adam George and his second defence of the British title also ended in defeat, when he was knocked out in the ninth round by Chris Pyatt at the Royal Albert Hall in February 1986.
[2][4] Rodney beat Carlton Warren in November 1986 but was then out of the ring until May 1989, when he lost to Sean Heron on points over six rounds.