By Dan Ambrose: Canelo Alvarez’s next fight, a tune-up against John Ryder, is expected to be officially announced soon for May 6th on DAZN in Guadalajara, Mexico.
Canelo was totally dominated by Bivol last year, appearing to lose 10 of the 12 rounds of the fight. It wasn’t even close. The fight was so one-sided that it was judge-proof at the T-Mobile Arena, but even then, Bivol barely won by the scores 115-x 3. This writer had Bivol winning 11-1.
Bivol held back the entire fight, staying in first gear and still dominating Canelo. As one-sided as that fight was, Canelo needs a better fighter than John ‘The Gorilla’ Ryder to prepare him for the rematch.
In looking at what Bivol brings to the table, Canelo should fight one of these contenders on May 6th to help him adequately prepare for him:
Joe Smith Jr
Jean Pascal
Craig Richards
Joshua Buatsi
Demetrius Andrade
Gilberto Ramirez
David Morrell
This is the opponent that Canelo (58-2-2, 39 KOs) has selected to prepare him for a rematch against Dmitry Bivol in September, and it figures to be a complete waste of time.
The smallish 5’9″ Ryder (32-5, 18 KOs) is a much different fighter than WBA light heavyweight champion Bivol (21-0, 11 KOs) as far as skills, speed, power, and size.
Fighting the 34-year-old Ryder would be the type of opponent that would be ideal if Canelo were to be fighting a smaller fighter from the 154-pound division like Liam Smith, but not for getting ready to face Bivol later this year.
It’s unclear if British promoter Eddie Hearn is the one behind convincing Canelo and his manager/trainer Eddy Reynoso to take the fight with Ryder.
So, they should have thought for themselves and looked at the guy’s size and fighting style and realized that he’s NOT going to help them one bit against Bivol.
If anything, fighting Ryder will hurt Canelo’s chances of winning a rematch with Bivol because he’s going to be in shock when he gets inside the ring with the much bigger, stronger fleet of foot fighter and get schooled again.
“John [Ryder] has a unique style in itself. He’s very short for a super middleweight, very compact southpaw,” said Callum Smith to Matchroom Boxing about Canelo Alvarez vs. John Ryder on May 6th.
“Canelo has been in with James Kirkland and in with southpaws like [Erislandy] Lara, but they were more slick backfoot ones.
“It’s interesting for John to get his opportunity; he’s paid his dues. He’s been around a long time and has had his ups and downs.
“He’s stuck around. They’re the type of people that you want to see get the big fights and the good paydays. So I wish him all the best,” said Callum.
“Conversations are ongoing with Saul and Eddy Reynoso, and John Ryder is the guy. Contracts are going backwards and forwards and we hope that in the next 48 hours, we’ll be in a good position to get that fight done,” said Eddie Hearn to the DAZN Boxing Show.
