By Jake Tiernan: Canelo Alvarez will need an impressive win over John Ryder on May 6th to help him get in the position where he can retake the #1 pound-for-pound.
Canelo (58-2-1, 39 KOs) will be defending his undisputed super middleweight championship against Ryder (32-5, 18 KOs) in Guadalajara, Mexico.
This is a fight that Canelo could have problems with because Ryder has a high work rate and an excellent chin. For Canelo to win this fight impressive, that would say a lot about him.
“He’s still a massive draw, he really is,” said Barry Jones to DAZN about Canelo Alvarez. “He’s still a very, very good fighter.”
“He really is and a massive draw and undisputed at 168 pounds,” said Ade Oladipo about Canelo.
“One thing he does extremely well and what he’s become in the last five years and it one of the best defensive fighters in boxing,” said Chris Mannix in talking about Alvarez.
“He’s punching your arm, but he’s also wacking away at your midsection. He’s killing you with uppercuts. He leaves more opponents befuddled in the ring than anyone I’ve seen since Mayweather.
“The thing that separates Canelo is his speed in the ring. He is so fast and so accurate with his shots that he makes his opponents afraid to throw their punches because he’s going to hit them back with something bigger,” said Mannix.
“I watch Canelo, and I feel like I’m watching a perfect fighter,” said Oladipo. “This is a guy that is undisputed at 168 and won titles at 160. He won a title at 175.”
“Canelo is an ever-evolving fighter since Mayweather,” said Barry Jones. “Every fighter, he learned from them. He took something from that, and that’s a unique quality. Not fighter does. He takes a little bit from that and takes it to the next fight.
“In the first Golovkin fight, he did what he had to do against Golovkin. That was a gutsy move to take that fight, by the way. Who wants to fight Golovkin? He boxed Golovkin, he tried to box him in the first fight, and it was hard for him. He took some great shots and he rolled with the shots.
“He took the Mayweather stuff and he rid with the shots as best as he could and fired back,” said Jones.
