Mexican superstar Canelo Alvarez has not fought at home in Guadalajara in a long time. It was back in the summer of 2011, when a fresh-faced Canelo boxed Britain’s Ryan Rhodes that he last fought in Guadalajara, while the multi-weight champ has boxed just once in Mexico since then; this his November 2011 win over Kermit Cintron.
But now, as per news from Mike Coppinger and Salvador Rodriguez, news that was soon picked up by RingTV.com, this is about to change. Canelo has reportedly reached a deal to face another British warrior, John Ryder, in Guadalajara on May 6 – so across the huge Cinco de Mayo celebratory weekend that means so much to all Mexican people. Eddie Hearn has gone on record as saying Canelo will be taking a significant pay cut so as to fight in front of his home town fans.
For Ryder, the fight will be the chance of a lifetime.
According to Ring, two big stadiums are in the running to host the fight, these being the 46,000-seat Akron Stadium and the even bigger, 55,000 capacity Estadio Jalisco. It seems, as huge as these arenas are, Canelo’s homecoming will be capable of filling either one. There will have to be plenty of cheap seats on offer, so as to accommodate those fans that are less affluent but no less passionate than those who will be able to occupy a ringside seat.
Canelo, 58-2-2(39) and coming off his winning trilogy fight with Gennady Golovkin and the required wrist surgery that followed the fight, will no doubt be looking to put on a show on May 6. Ryder, 32-5(18) and a southpaw, is coming off big wins over Danny Jacobs and, last time out, Zack Parker.
Ryder was hoping he would get the opportunity to fight Canelo in the UK. Instead, the 34 year old now heads to the daunting task of fighting Canelo in front of around 50,000 rabid Mexican fans.
Canelo is looking to get his revenge win over Dmitry Bivol later on this year. Needless to say, a momentous upset scored by Ryder would drastically change 32 year old Canelo’s plans.