By Scott Gilfoid: Super middleweight contender John Ryder (26-4, 14 KOs) scored a surprising 2nd round knockout over Jamie Cox (25-2, 14 KOs) on Saturday night in a scheduled 12 round fight at the O2 Arena in London, England.
After a slow 1st round, Ryder ended matters in the 2nd in nailing the 31-year-old Cox with a right hook to the head that sent him down in delayed reaction. Cox took his time getting back up and ended up being counted out.
Cox waited until the count of 9 to start rising, and he was counted by referee Ian John-Lewis. Cox crouched down as Lewis gave him the count. Cox could have gotten, but he took too much time listening to Lewis give him the count. What a silly mistake. In fairness to Cox, he probably would have been finished off by Ryder even if he had beaten the count. Ryder is too good for him in my estimation, and it would have been over with anyway.
For Cox, this was the second time he’s been knocked out early in a fight in his last three fights. George Groves stopped Cox with a body shot in the 4th round in October 2017. It’s starting to look like Cox is an over-the-hill fighter. I hate to say it, but I think he’s no longer the same guy he was 10 years ago. What a waste of a career.
“I think we’re having a real Indian summer here,” Ryder said to Sky Sports after the fight in talking about his knockout win over Cox. “It was the right shot for me, the wrong shot for him. He was down. I was just thinking stay down, please. The referee called it right, I believe.”
The referee gave Cox the count. It was Cox that made the wrong decision to stay down too long. It looked to me like Cox didn’t want to continue fighting. Some fighters stay down intentionally until the count of 9 before they start getting up, so they can bellyache afterwards that they beat the count. I get the feeling that’s what Cox did tonight. He wanted no part of continuing to fight Ryder in my opinion, so he made the decision to stay on his knees until Lewis counted to 9 before starting to get to his feet. His legs were gone after the knockdown. Ryder would have put in the coup de Grace if the fight had resumed.
The 31-year-old southpaw Ryder now wants a world title shot. He’s currently rated #3 by the World Boxing Association. He can fight WBA Super World champion George Groves or WBA ‘regular’ champion Tyron Zeuge. I can’t see Ryder beating either of those guys. Ryder is also ranked #13 WBC. I don’t think Ryder would be able to compete with WBC 168 lb. champion David Benavidez. He’s too good for him.