Liam ‘Beefy’ Smith believes John Ryder has got a decent chance of defeating unbeaten Jaime Munguia this Saturday night in their 12-round main event at the Footprint Center in Phoenix, Arizona.
The 35-year-old Ryder (32-6, 18 KOs) is viewed as the underdog for obvious reasons in this contest. He’s considerably smaller and weaker, and his punch output is below the well-managed 27-year-old Munguia.
Munguia’s Momentum
Former WBO junior middleweight champion Munguia (42-0, 33 KOs) has looked lately, showing improvement in his game.
In Munguia’s last fight at 168, he defeated Sergiy Derevyanchenko by a 12-round unanimous decision in a war last June.
That fight looked like Munguia would fold at times under Derevyanchenko’s firepower, but he held on to drop Derevyanchenko in the final round and win.
Ryder’s Path to Victory
“We all know that Ryder is solid enough and has got a good enough chin so it will be hard for Munguia to punch him, but Munguia can throw enough punches to get to John,” said Liam Smith to Boxing News.
“I just think that if John can up his output a little bit more, he has a massive chance.”
Can Ryder throw more punches at this stage of his career? He’s never been a guy with a high work rate, and he’s not exactly a spring chicken at 35 years old. Here’s the question: Can Ryder take the heavy shots from the younger, bigger, and more powerful Munguia if he does open up with more punches?
Ryder is coming off a beating from undisputed super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez last May, and we don’t know what the contest took out of him. The heavy-handed Canelo hit him a lot, breaking his nose and looking like he’d been run over by a Mack truck by the end of the contest.
A Fight with High Stakes
There’s a lot at stake in Saturday night’s Munguia vs. Ryder fight, especially for Jaime. He’s being considered for Canelo’s next fight on May 4th, and he can make a mountain of money as the opponent.
For Ryder, if he comes out victorious, he obviously won’t be given a chance for a rematch with Canelo, but he could get a nice payday in a second fight with Munguia. If Ryder wins that fight, then he has a chance of a rematch with Canelo.
