John Ryder says 2021 aged Canelo Alvarez when he fought three times to become the undisputed super middleweight champion.
Canelo took a lot of punishment in his fights against Caleb Plant & Billy Joe Saunders in 2021, and subsequently, he looked like the shell of the fighter he’d been when he fought against Dmitry Bivol and Gennadiy Golovkin in 2022.
Ryder (32-5, 18 KOs) notes that Canelo (58-2-2, 39 KOs) isn’t the same fighter he’d been, but he’s going to treat him like he’s still at his best when the two meet this Saturday, May 6th on DAZN PPV at the Estadio Akron in Guadalajara, Mexico.
There’s a good possibility that Canelo will fade quickly in this fight from the fast pace and the fact that they’re fighting at high altitude. With Canelo’s stamina issues he showed last year against Dmitry Bivol & Gennadiy Golovkin, he might be making a mistake in choosing to fight in Guadalara at high altitude.
Canelo should have staged the Ryder fight in Las Vegas instead of at high altitude in Guadalajara., but perhaps he figured that the U.S. boxing fans wouldn’t sell out the T-Mobile Arena, which has become his favorite venue.
Given his vastly superior stamina, Ryder may put enough heat on Canelo to cause him to gas out after three rounds and have him at his mercy during the last nine rounds of the contest.
“I’m really happy about that. It’s not been gifted to me. I’ve had to work hard for it time and time again. So now I feel like it’s my time, the timing is right,” said John Ryder to Fight Hub TV about his getting a title shot against Canelo Alvarez.
“We’re similar height and similar build, so I think it’s going to blend for a great fight,” Ryder continued. “A lot of people are commenting on how much alike we are. I just hope that it’ll blend well for fight night and it’ll make for a great fight.
“I wouldn’t say I lost hope, but the path was often cloudy & foggy, and at times I was walking with no destination in mind. Just one step in front of the other. I kept faith, and here we are,” Ryder said when asked if he ever lost hope that he would get another title shot.
“I’ve watched every fight of Canelo since the late 2000s. If there’s a Canelo fight, I tune in. I’ve seen it all, so it won’t be hard for me to watch it again and study it now as an opponent. I’ve got a great trainer in Tony Sims, and he will be working hard to pick things out, and come May 6th, we’ll have a great game plan.
“Everything happens for a reason. It wasn’t my time then, but now I plan on making his belts my belts,” Ryder said when asked about him missing out on a Canelo fight in 2020 when he lost a controversial twelve-round decision to then-WBA super middleweight champion Callum Smith. Had Ryder won, he would have been the one that fought Canelo in 2020 instead of Smith.
“Let’s be fair. Canelo has a lot of miles on the clock now, he’s not getting any younger, and he’s had a lot of hard fights. The year of 2021 really took its toll on Saul with the three fights in a year. Obviously, he became undisputed, but who knows what toll that took on his body deep down.
“Obviously, last year wasn’t great with the Bivol defeat, and the fight against Golovkin wasn’t a vintage performance, but he got the win, and obviously surgery. So he’s coming back. We don’t know what Saul has got left, but we’ve got to treat him like he’s the best Canelo that he’s ever been,” said Ryder.
