Canelo Alvarez (58-2-2, 39 KOs) will be defending this Saturday night against the highly motivated punching machine John Ryder (32-5, 18 KOs) in front of an expected crowd of 55,000+ fans at the Estadio Akron in Guadalajara, Mexico. The fight will be live on DAZN.
For Canelo to fight a guy with an engine and punch output like Ryder, it’s a nightmare, particularly with his history of stamina problems, coming off two back-to-back poor efforts and hand surgery. It’s a witch’s brew for Canelo that he’s dealing with.
The Eddie Hearn-promoted Ryder has made no bones about what he intends on doing on Saturday night. He’s going to go after Canelo from the opening bell, and force him to fight at a pace that he physically can’t sustain due to his cardio problems and style that he’s adopted in recent years.
Alvarez-Ryder fight breakdown:
- Conditioning — Ryder
- Experience — Canelo
- Ring IQ – Canelo
- Speed – Canelo
- Punch output- Ryder
- Crowd – Canelo
Ryder must win rounds clearly
“55,000 people will be promoting Canelo’s homecoming in Guadalajara, and even better than that, our boy John Ryder is going for gold, and that makes it even more special,” said Eddie Hearn to iFL TV about Saturday’ss Canelo-Rydeer fight at the Estadio Akron.
“If you want to beat Canelo on Saturday, you have to beat him and win rounds clearly. That’s going to be the difficulty for John Ryder, and he has to.
“The great news for people tuning in on DAZN is it’s going to be a great fight because John Ryder has to get in close, fight on the inside because that’s where John Ryder is at his best.
“He has to make it a dog fight, and he has to hope that maybe that Canelo isn’t the fighter he was. Maybe his surgery didn’t go a good as he said it did. Maybe the pressures of fighting at home are too much. There a lot of things have got to go his way, but he’s here to win. I promise you. He has no intention of cruising to a points defeat. He’s here to win the fight, and to do that; he’s got to make it a great fight for you to watch.
“He definitely wants Bivol [next]. He has no problems fighting David Benavidez. Trust me, I’ve dealt with this guy long enough and he will fight anyone. The only fight he has in his mind at the moment is Dmitry Bivol after John Ryder.
Canelo wants Bivol rematch next
“No,” said Hearn when asked if the Canelo vs. Bivol rematch will be a difficult fight to make. “The WBC came out and said, ‘We don’t want Bivol to fight Beterbiev. We won’t sanction that.’ So that puts that on the back burner. So he [Bivol] either fights Canelo or he has a voluntary [defense].
“So obviously, we know what he’s going to do. We still need to agree to terms for that fight, but I still think there’s a very good chance that fight happens.
“175,” said Hearn when asked what weight class that he sees the Canelo vs. Bivol II rematch taking place. “I don’t think it’s a good look to bring Bivol down to 168 for the first time in his career.
“You know what people are like. They won’t give Canelo the credit. ‘Ah, he brought him down. He weight drained him.’ Canelo’s going, ‘Do you think I can beat Bivol at 175?’ I’m like, ‘You’re the underdog.’ ‘Yeah,'” said Hearn about a conversation he had with Canelo.
“That’s the kind of thing that gets him up for it, and he’s a massive underdog against Dmitry Bivol at 175. Tell me any other fight in the world where Canelo Alvarez is the underdog. It doesn’t exist. So this is the toughest fight for him. Guess what? He wants the toughest fights out there and he wants to avenge that defeat,” said Hearn.
