By Brad Slotnick: John ‘Gorilla’ Ryder (29-5, 16 KOs)will be battling unbeaten #1 WBC David Morrell (4-0, 3 KOs) for the vacant WBA ‘regular’ super middleweight title next. This is the title freed up after the previous owner Canelo Alvarez defeated WBA ‘Super’ 168-pound champion, Callum Smith, on December 19th.
The Morrell vs. Ryder fight is still being negotiated, and it’s possible that it could take place in the U.S. That’s where Morrell now lives and fights out of.
Morrell, 23, only has four fights as a professional, but the World Boxing Association thinks enough of the Cuban fighter’s talent to rank him #1.
His long amateur career in Cuba has some believing that Morrell is another Vasily Lomachenko type of fighter capable of winning a world title with just five fights.
Ryder, 32, is hoping to beat the talented former Cuban star Morrell to put himself in a position to face Canelo soon. If Canelo (54-1-2, 36 KOs) completes his mission to unify the super middleweight division in 2021, he might turn to Ryder to face him.
It’s a longshot, but there is a chance Ryder can get a massive payday fighting Canelo before he gives up his WBA title.
Ryder was recently in the running for a fight against Canelo last December, but the Mexican star chose to fight the depleted-looking Callum Smith instead.
Depending on what Canelo’s rationale was for taking the Smith fight, he would have been better off facing Ryder to give the fans a remote entertaining fight.
Ryder believes that Callum was weight drained for the Canelo fight, and many boxing fans agree with that. This wasn’t the Smith that we saw beat George Groves to win the World Boxing Super Series tournament in 2018.
“As far as I know, it’s going to be my next fight, David Morrell,” Ryder said to Sky Sports. “It’s a mad record, and obviously, we’ve seen [Vasily] Lomachenko go into a world title fight in his second fight.
“I’m not putting him [Morrell] in the same boat as Lomachenko, but he’s there for a reason, so it’s a job that I’ve got to do, and do convincingly to fulfil my dream,” said Ryder.
It’s a big ask for Ryder to defeat a talented fighter like the 23-year-old Morrell, as he’s got a lot of ability and loads of amateur experience. Ryder has generally come up short when stepping it up during his career to face high-quality first-tier fighters.
Ryder’s best wins:
- Siarhei Khamitski
- Jack Arnfield
- Patrick Nielsen
- Jamie Cox
- Bilal Akkawy
While some fans would agree that Ryder deserved a win in his fight against Callum Smith in 2019, he didn’t get the victory; Smith was still able to win the fight based on the harder-landing shots.
“I’m just pleased that I’ve got the chance of a world title fight. I’m going to grab it with both hands,” said Ryder.