By Sean Jones: John Ryder can be the one that finishes off Canelo Alvarez’s career this Saturday night when the two meet in Guadalajara, Mexico.
As Teddy Atlas points out, Canelo (58-2-2, 39 KOs) has shown a “downward trend” in his last two fights against Gennadiy Golovkin and Dmitry Bivol. Those bouts showed that Canelo has aged, and lost a significant portion of his game that likely won’t bring back.
The reason many hardcore boxing fans will be purchasing the Canelo-Ryder fight on Saturday night on DAZN PPV is that they want to see if Canelo’s downward trend will continue or if he’ll snap out of it and find the Fountain of Youth, guzzle the waters to rejuvenate his career.
Canelo’s promoter Eddie Hearn has been working hard, doing damage control by blaming his poor performances against Golovin and Bivol on his left wrist injury.
Knowledgable boxing fans aren’t buying the cheap excuses, as Canelo’s hand injury wasn’t the reason for gassing out and looking like an old geezer in his mid-50s, too tired to pull the trigger.
That was age rearing its ugly head with Canelo, and it’ll likely be there on Saturday night for Ryder (32-5, 18 KOs) to take advantage of it.
Canelo vs. Ryder will take place this Saturday, May 6th, at the Estadio Akron, Guadalajara, Mexico. Alvarez will defend his undisputed super middleweight championship against his WBO mandatory Ryder.
Will Ryder spoil Canelo’s homecoming?
“I like challenges, and when I’m retired, I say I did everything I can in boxing, and I hope everyone enjoys it. That’s why I keep pushing and do my best,” said Canelo to A Royal Homecoming on DAZN.
“I love boxing, and I love what I do. I don’t like watching boxing. I like doing boxing. I love being in the gym. It’s my second house. When you love something, for you I’m the most happy.
“This is my life. Golf, family, boxing, business. I feel more motivated than ever, and I’ll stay motivated,” Canelo said. “Because as Eddy said, ‘When we are motivated, you finish the job.’ And I’m happy to be here with Mr. Ryder. Thank you for coming here, my friend.”
“There’s nothing like going home,” said Ade Oladipo. “For those fans that saw him when he was growing up and don’t have the opportunity to go to America to watch him, this is their opportunity to see their king come back home.”
“Mexican fans always go crazy for Canelo in America. It’s Mexican-American fans,” said Todd Grisham. “Now let’s see what the Mexican fans are going to do in Guadalajara. I can’t wait to see it.”
“Though his career started here in Guadalajara, now he’s coming back. Not as the prodigal son who comes home after a loss,” said trainer Jose ‘Chepo’ Reynoso. “On the contrary, he’s coming back as a great, like a king, as a great champion.”
“I enjoy my friends in Guadalajara, my family is there, the city. I started fighting in Guadalajara, and the people support me a lot,” said Canelo. “Good people in Guadalajara.”
“We’re really excited. It’s something really huge for us. It’s a dream to come here to Guadalajara,” said trainer Eddy Reynoso. “Boxers who retire come back to their country, but we’re coming back as undisputed world champions.
“We’re coming back to our people at a great time, and that makes us very excited.”
“I just feel it’s the correct time to come to Guadalajara and fight here as the best fighter in the world,” said Canelo.
Ryder will be problem
“I’m expecting a lot from Canelo going back home. He’s not been there since Ryan Rhodes. That’s years ago, right?” said Ade Oladipo. “I’ve always looked at John Ryder as the English Canelo.
“His stature, his build, his beard, everything, and they call him ‘The Gorilla’ for a reason. This guy is going to get in there and cause a problem.”
“The crowd is coming for a knockout. They don’t want to see a twelve-round points decision for Canelo. That’s not why they’re there. So there’s a lot of pressure on Canelo to perform,” said Grisham.
“John Ryder is the underdog, but he’s been the underdog for his last few fights, but he always finds a way to beat the odds, and he’s confident.”
“This is 100% Mexico, so I’m expecting it to be carnage, a good carnage,” said Oladipo.
Canelo had to take this fight
“John Ryder is the [WBO] mandatory challenger. John Ryder is the [WBO] interim world champion,” said Eddie Hearn. “John Ryder is the man that Canelo Alvarez must face or lose his mantle as the undisputed world champion.
“Of course, when you talk about ‘Lion’s den,’ this is the lion’s den of all lion’s den with no cage. This is the ultimate challenge.”
“I think he has nothing to lose. That’s why he’s going to be more than just for me. It’s going to be a good fight,” said Canelo about Ryder. “He’s a strong fighter, a southpaw. So it’s going to be a good challenge for me.”
“We think the John Ryder fight will be complicated in the early rounds,” said trainer Eddy Reynoso. “I think Saul, as the fight goes on, has to impose his experience, his better boxing, and his power. In the end, I think he will win by any means.”
“I hear he says I’m not the same. He’s going to see,” said Canelo.
“GGG made some adjustments. He did a good job of stepping out of range to make Canelo miss. It was a good job of stepping out of range,” said Teddy Atlas on his channel about Canelo Alvarez’s last fight against Gennadiy Golovkin last September.
“That’s the problem. Canelo didn’t follow up. That was missing and I noticed that was missing. Also, GGG like he did in his second fight with him, which I thought he got robbed. He did a good job of using his jab, even at [40] years of age,” said Atlas.
Canelo’s downward trend: Will it continue?
“I’m making no excuses for Canelo. It’s your responsibility to get in there and be ready physically and emotionally,” Teddy said. “I think he may have overlooked GGG a little bit. I think he knew what everyone else was talking about.
“That the fight was five years too late, that GGG was older, that GGG was getting hit a lot in his fight before that against Murata, who he overcame it, but he was getting hit a lot. I think he was expecting an easier fight, which you should never expect in any profession.
“Your profession is to be ready in whatever your profession is. You should never expect it to be an easy day. Will he [Canelo] look brilliantly better [against Ryder]? I don’t know. I think that’s the only reason you’re going to watch this fight if you’re a Canelo fan.
“You want to see will he look better than he did or is this downward trend [going to continue?]. He lost to Bivol and didn’t look good against GGG. Is this downward trend real? Does it continue? I think that’s why you look to watch this fight?” said Atlas.
