Canelo Alvarez v John Ryder Preview

Canelo Recent Form

Canelo has not fought since September last year when he conclusively concluded his trilogy with Gennady Golovkin and avenged his defeat to Dmitry Bivol almost 12 months ago to the day. The 32-year-old was trying to capture the WBA ‘Super’ Light-Heavyweight title on that day in Las Vegas, yet he came up short against the slick Russian.

Prior to that, boxing’s pay-per-view superstar had looked unbeatable as he sliced through the entire 168lbs division to claim every single belt. 

After taking care of Callum Smith in December 2020, Canelo dispatched an overmatched Avni Yildirim in February 2021 and then was at his destructive best to stop Billy Joe Suanders in May 2021. Just six months later, he stopped Caleb Plant to clinch his fourth and final major world championship belt in the division.

Ryder Recent Form

As for Ryder, the Islington-native has also not fought since November when he proved too much for fellow Englishman Zach Parker, which came off the back of a career-best win against Daniel Jacobs in February 2022. 

‘The Gorilla’ should perhaps have already tasted world championship Gold already in his 37-fight career, yet he was controversially not awarded the win when he fought the aforementioned Smith in November 2019 in their WBA super-middleweight world championship bout.

The fight will take place over Cinco de Mayo weekend, in the early hours of May 7 at approximately 5am GMT.

Tale of the Tape

Can Ryder cause an upset?

Although bookmakers give Ryder just an 11% chance of pulling off the impossible and beating Canelo this weekend, it can be argued the Brit has the style to cause the champion problems.

The veteran is likely to be as unpredictable as he possibly can, mixing up his attacks between fast flurries from his southpaw stance to boxing and using his footwork to cut off the angles for Canelo to work. However, he cannot allow complacency to creep in at any stage as Canelo has shown the patience and clinical execution in previous fights to learn the pattern of his opponents.

Take, for instance, his first attempt at a light-heavyweight title. He was comfortable losing the fight to Sergey Kovalev in Madison Square Garden in late 2019, but unleashed a corking left hook, followed by a devastating straight right to render the Russian unconscious. 

Bivol remarked last year how he made Canelo fight more aggressively and assumed the role of the counterpuncher in their bout, a role normally reserved for the Mexican. His unorthodox combinations are thrown with devastating power and the extra exerted effort clearly took a toll. By shifting back down to 168lbs, Ryder will hope to catch a drained version of the undisputed champion.

However, in his home city of Mexico, it is unlikely Canelo will lose a narrow decision so Ryder may be forced to land three or four punch power combinations to get the respect as the challenger. In doing so, it could leave him exposed to the type of vicious body shot which eviscerated Liam Smith back in 2015.

Other Fights on the Card

• Julio Cesar Martinez vs. Ronal Batista; For Martinez's WBC flyweight title
• Gabriel Gollaz Valenzuela vs. Steve Spark; For the WBA Inter-Continental super lightweight title
• Nathan Devon Rodriguez vs. Alexander Mejia; Featherweight
• Oleksandr Gvozdyk vs. Ricards Bolotniks; Super middleweight
• Bek Nurmaganbet vs. Argenis Espana; Super middleweight
• Lawrence King vs. Elio German Rafael; Super welterweight
• Johansen Alvarez Suarez vs. Johan Rodriguez Arreguin; Super featherweight
• Abilkhan Amankul vs. Jesus Moroyoqui Palomares; Middleweight
• Carlos Emiliano Rojo vs. Fabian Trejo Rivera; Super welterweight
• Jesus Larios vs. Alejandro Curiel; Featherweight 

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