By Sean Jones: Fading star Canelo Alvarez will try and keep his sinking career afloat tonight in a fight against John Ryder in a 12-round affair in Guadalajara, Mexico. This could be it for Canelo.
Alvarez faces oblivion if he gets taken to school, as we witnessed in his humiliating loss to Dmitry Bivol, and he says he’ll walk away if Ryder does the same thing to him tonight.
This fight could be disturbing for Canelo fans, who are troubled watching him getting worked over by the more youthful, energetic Ryder.
You’d hate for tonight’s Canelo-Ryder fight to end in controversy. Still, Canelo’s career is filled with him being involved in questionable decisions that could have easily resulted in a further five defeats along with his two losses on his record. In other words, Canelo’s record should be 53-7, and he’d be a much smaller star than he currently is.
The going belief by fans is Ryder (32-5, 18 KOs) needs a knockout to win tonight against the famous superstar Canelo and that he’ll likely wind up on the receiving end of a controversial decision if the bout goes the complete twelve rounds.
Ryder is still in his prime and is coming off an impressive 2022, with wins over Zach Parker and Daniel Jacobs. If Ryder brings the same energy he had in those fights tonight, he will make Canelo look like an old man and dominate him.
What was so troubling was how tired Canelo was in his fights with Bivol & GGG last year, as he spent most of those fights with his back against the ropes, looking like he didn’t have the conditioning to stand in the center of the ring.
Canelo with massive pressure on him
This is a second chance for Canelo to show that he still has it after getting humiliated last May by Dmitry Bivol and coming close to getting beaten by the shot to pieces Gennadiy Golovkin.
Alvarez (58-2-2, 39 KOs) said on Friday that if he loses, he’s done and will retire. Considering that Canelo is still in denial about his loss to Bivol, believing he deserved to win, it wouldn’t be a shock if he changes his mind about retiring if he gets beaten tonight and argues that he feels he should have won.
Canelo comes into this fight with many doubters, who note that he looked badly deteriorated last year in his two contests, which some fans believe is his rationale for coming home to Mexico to ensure that he wins. The fight will take place at the Estadio Akron in Guadalajara.
In tonight’s undercard, WBC flyweight champion Julio Cesar Martinez defends his 112-lb strap against fringe contender Ronal Batista.
It’s not a great fight, but the local fans will enjoy it, even if it turns out to be a blowout in favor of Martinez. At least it’s a winnable one for Martinez because he could be fighting many contenders and champions tonight that would likely beat him quite handily.
In other fights on the undercard, light welterweight contender Steve Spark faces Gabriel Gollaz Valenzuela and former WBC light heavyweight champion Oleksandr Gvozdyk continuing his comeback against Ricards Bolotniks.
“You got to trust in the judges. If I go in three solely looking for a knockout, it will be a hard night for me tonight,” said Ryder to DAZN Boxing Show when asked if he could win a decision in Mexico.
Prediction
Sean Jones sees Canelo winning the fight by a controversial twelve round decision over Ryder. It’ll be competitive in the first four rounds, but by the fifth, Canelo will have exhausted his fuel tank, and will be worked over by the more energetic, purposeful Ryder, who will get the better of his double in a fight that will be disturbing to watch for Alvarez’s adoring boxing fans.
