By Dan Ambrose: John Ryder (32-5, 18 KOs) has a real shot at beating Canelo Alvarez tonight live on DAZN PPV in what would be a life-changing upset at the Estadio Akron in Guadalajara, Mexico.
Ryder can win; if he does, Canelo has already said he’ll retire. In other words, he doesn’t rate Ryder high enough for him to want to continue his career if he gets beat.
That’s not a good sign that Canelo is putting his career on the line tonight. Still, he understands that if he can’t beat a fighter like Ryder tonight, he would have no shot at defeating the young sharks in the 168-lb division, David Benavidez and David Morrell Jr, that are circling him, looking to rip him to shreds.
Ryder sees weakness in Canelo
Like Ryder, those two talents see weakness in Canelo and are ready to pick him off. Canelo must find a way tonight to recapture his lost youth because he looked ancient last year, much older than his 32 years.
What fans saw from Canelo (58-2-2, 39 KOs) last year was a four-round fighter, who was only capable of throwing single shots, and spent long stretches of each round with his back against the ropes, resting his tired legs.
Ryder is a hard worker that puts massive pressure on his opponents, wearing them down with his relentless style of fighting until they gas and are easy pickings for him to conquer.
We’ve heard from Canelo this week that his loss to Dmitry Bivol and listless performance against Gennadiy Golovkin last year resulted from his left-hand injury.
It’s difficult for fans to buy into Canelo’s excuse because his main problem in those two fights was stamina or lack thereof, and it shouldn’t have mattered that his hand was out of commission.
Why is the Canelo vs. Ryder fight important?
Canelo-Ryder is crucial because it’s an opportunity for Ryder to make life-changing money to set himself and his family up for life.
It’s also important to Ryder because he’s never won a world title, and he would capture belts if he beat Canelo. Assuming Canelo carries out his threat of retiring, Ryder would then likely face David Benavidez in a big-money fight on PPV.
For Canelo, his career is at stake. As such, he must beat Ryder to keep things going, and to get the rematch against Bivol that he’s focused on taking in September.
“It means everything to him. Canelo hasn’t fought in Mexico since 2011, and he long wanted to bring a fight back to his people,” Coppinger said to ESPN.
“He said what means so much to him is he’s doing it in the prime of his career, not in a farewell fight like so many other Mexicans like Juan Manuel Marquez and Erik Morales. He’s doing it smack dab in his prime as the undisputed champion.
“It’s been pretty crazy here. The press conference on Wednesday was packed to the brim. You could barely move in there. People are hungry and thirsty for a Canelo fight. Canelo says there are going to be over 50,000 people at Akron Stadium, and I think it’s a long time coming. The demand has built up to a massive event here,” said Coppinger.
“You mentioned that 2022 was tough for Canelo because he suffered just his second career loss,” said Max Kellerman. “I mean, the [Erislandy] Lara fight was close, but he got the decision there. He officially lost to [Dmitry] Bivol. The only other loss was to Floyd Mayweather when Canelo was pre-prime.
“He wants to avenge that loss. Just stylistically, if I was trying to get Canelo beat, I’d have matched him with Bivol. Why do that when there are so many big-name fighters with better styles for him that he has yet to face?”
Canelo still in denial over loss
Alvarez still hasn’t come to terms with his one-sided twelve-round unanimous decision loss to Bivol last May. Canelo believes that he deserved to win the first five rounds, and the reason he lost because he got tired because of his hand injury.
It doesn’t make sense. How is it that Canelo’s hand injury caused him to gas out? It just seems a weak excuse for the Mexican superstar and his way of making sense of what happened to him that night.
“I asked Canelo yesterday, ‘What makes you think you can beat him after the way the first fight went?'” said Coppinger about his conversation with Canelo on why he wants a rematch with Bivol. “He said, ‘Simple. I’m better than Bivol, and the reason I lost the fight,’ these are his words, ‘I had a left hand injury.’
“He had surgery on it after the [Gennadiy] Golovkin fight. He said because of it, he faded down the stretch and was tired because he couldn’t train properly. Now, I think there was more to it than that, but that’s his belief. What’s interesting to me is Canelo wants the fight again at 175, Bivol’s weight. Bivol wants the fight at 168, and both don’t want to budge,” Coppinger said.
“Why is that? Because Bivol is a small light heavy, and Canelo has fought at light heavy,” Kellerman said. “He fought [Sergey] Kovalev at light heavy before he fought Bivol and looked good there. But Bivol fought most of his career at light heavyweight, and Canelo has hardly fought there.
“Why does the light heavy want the super middleweight fight, and the super middleweight wants the light heavyweight fight?” said Kellerman.
“In boxing, guys want to fight at their own weight. Canelo said, ‘I know how this goes. If I beat Bivol at 168, people are going to say I drained him, and I want full credit, and I want to prove that I can beat him at his own weight,'” said Coppinger. “Really, that’s why Canelo is such a big star.
“He’s always taking on the toughest challenges. I asked Bivol the same question, and he said, ‘What about my fans? They’re going to say I couldn’t beat Canelo at his own weight, and besides, I want the undisputed championship at 168.’
“He said Canelo just wants to keep his titles if he loses again. Just imagine if Bivol did beat Canelo for the undisputed championship at 168 and then went and fought and beat Beterbiev for the undisputed championship at 175. That would be all-time stuff,’ said Coppinger.
“It would be,” said Kellerman. “Beterbiev, I’m glad you brought him up because stylistically, Canelo-Beterbiv, if it’s not the best fight you can make in boxing, it’s one of the two or three best.
“By the way, you can say the same thing about Canelo-Benavidez. By the way, Canelo-Charlo. Even if the fight I’m about to say isn’t as good as the styles match-up, [Demetrius] Andrade presents a real challenge [for Canelo].
“If I had to pick a wish list, those would be some of the fights that I would choose. Did Canelo say anything about any of those guys to you?” said Kellerman.
“He did say something about David Benavidez. I think that’s a fight that we’re probably going to see next year,” said Coppinger. “Benavidez said that he wants to take Canelo’s two big weekends [on Cinco de Mayo and the Mexican Independence Day holiday].
“Those were weekends that used to belong to Floyd Mayweather and Oscar De La Hoya. That would be Cinco de Mayo Day weekend this weekend and the Mexican Independence Day weekend in September.
“Canelo said, ‘Look, it’s easy to say that, but it’s a lot harder to do that.’ Just look at how David Benavidez’s fight against Caleb Plant in March performed [on PPV]. But I do think we’re going to see that fight, and it’s going to be a big one,” said Coppinger.
