Canelo Alvarez vs. John Ryder is reportedly being finalized for May 6th in one of the soccer stadiums in Guadalajara, Mexico on DAZN.
It’s not the fight that fans wanted to see from Canelo, as he’s facing a guy that has been around for a long time and has been beaten many times. Fans would have preferred for Canelo to fight David Benavidez, Dmitry Bivol, Artur Beterbiev, or even a rematch against Caleb Plant.
It’s believed that Ryder is being used as a tune-up for Canelo to get him ready for his rematch against Dmitry Bivol in September. Canelo has to look good against Ryder to be given a genuine chance against Bivol (21-0, 11 KOs).
Canelo must look good
If Canelo struggles against Ryder, he should scrap the idea of a rematch with Bivol and tell the fans that he will focus on fighting 168-pounders exclusively.
Ryder has got an excellent engine and is capable of pushing Canelo hard. Canelo will need to be better conditioned for this fight than he’s shown in his last two contests against Gennadiy Golovkin and Bivol.
Unlike those two, Ryder will stand in the pocket and force Canelo to expend energy. Ryder is quite capable of taking control of the fight in the second half to either pull off an upset or lose a close and possibly controversial decision.
“He’s going to be fighting John Ryder, and that fight is going to be in Mexico, probably in Guadalajara, where Canelo is from,” said Mike Coppinger to ESPN about undisputed super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez’s next title defense against his WBO mandatory John Ryder on May 6th in Mexico.
“It’s a big deal because Canelo is the biggest star in the sport, and he hadn’t fought in Mexico since 2011, which was before he won his first world title, the first of many. So they’re looking at some soccer stadiums.
“John Ryder is going to be an underdog, and nobody is going to believe he’s going to win, but I do believe he is deserving.”
It’s still unclear whether Canelo’s title defense of his undisputed super middleweight championship against ‘The Gorilla’ Ryder (32-5, 18 KOs) will be shown on DAZN pay-per-view or if it’ll be part of the regular subscription package.
DAZN should dump Youtuber boxing shows
If you’re DAZN, this would be a good time to let the fans know they won’t have to pay extra to watch Canelo fight the 34-year-old Ryder because many of them are speedily canceling their subscriptions this week due to the massive price increase in the yearly subscription.
Unfortunately for DAZN, Many U.S. fans are fed up paying to see subpar fights involving Youtuber boxers/influencers, Jake Paul, KSI, Misfits Boxing, or some obscure domestic-level UK fighters that people have never heard or before.
As such, it would be a good idea if DAZN takes famous fighters like Canelo off PPV for a while to prevent fans from continuing to jump ship. At the same time, they can give the boot to the Youtuber/influencer trash and focus on giving the DAZN subscribers real value for their money, particularly now that they’ve hiked the prices through the roof.