John Ryder has never had it easy so facing Canelo Alvarez in Mexico on Cinco de Mayo weekend won’t faze him in the slightest.
Canelo, 32, intends to return to the ring in May having undergone surgery to repair his injured left wrist. After suffering a surprise defeat to Dmitry Bivol, he bounced back into the win column with a decision victory over Gennady Golovkin in their trilogy fight last time out.
The Mexican is a four-weight world champion having won belts at super welterweight, middleweight, super middleweight and light heavyweight.
He has one of the best resumes around and has taken out a number of top class opponents in recent years including Sergey Kovalev, GGG, and Caleb Plant.
Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn has confirmed that Ryder is the frontrunner to face Canelo in his homecoming fight this summer.
The fight is expected to take place on May 6 in Canelo’s home state of Jalisco a few miles away from where he grew up on the streets of Guadalajara.
This will be the first time in 12 years since Canelo has competed in front of his countrymen.
But Ryder won’t be put off by the lack of home support. We believe that the timing is right and everything happens for a reason.
Ryder, a client of mine for many years, has experienced many of the ups and downs that professional boxing has to offer during his career.
He has fought the likes of Rocky Fielding, Danny Jacobs and Billy Joe Saunders over the years – to name but a few.
Not to mention he also arguably should have got the nod against Callum Smith but the judges saw it differently on the night.
Now he will get the opportunity of a lifetime after an incredible 12 months which saw him become the WBO interim champion after beating Zach Parker back in November.
And while he may have a few losses on his record, he won’t lose any confidence in his style as he aims to take the fight to Canelo, which will excite the fans in attendance.
With my dad Tony in his corner, we have every faith that he will be able to bring the belts back to the UK.
Canelo is one of the greatest fighters, if not the greatest, to come out of Mexico, but has Father Time finally caught up with the former pound-for-pound king? We will find out soon enough when the two face off against each other later this year.
Follow Charlie on Instagram and Twitter at @charlessims_.
