Canelo to Defend Super Middleweight Titles Against Ryder

Saul 'Canelo’ Alvarez makes his return to the ring in May to take on John Ryder. The Mexican will defend his WBA (Super), WBC, IBF and WBO titles in that fight in Guadalajara. It will be his first professional bout in Mexico since 2011.

Alvarez had a mixed year in 2022. He scored a unanimous victory over his long-time rival Gennady Golovkin in the third fight in their trilogy. However, he also suffered his first defeat since 2013 when losing to Dmitry Bivol in a light heavyweight contest.

Alvarez Strong Favourite to Defend Titles

Canelo is the 1/16 favourite in the betting on boxing market for the fight against Ryder. He is expected to make another successful defence of his super middleweight crowns. The 32-year-old has been a world champion in the division ever since he defeated Rocky Fielding in December 2018.

On his return to the super middleweight division, Alvarez looked back to his best against Golovkin last September. The judges scored the contest 115-113, 115-113 and 116-112 in his favour. He dominated the centre of the ring in that fight in what was a big performance.

The fight against Ryder will be the 63rd in Canelo’s impressive professional career. He is ranked fifth in The Ring’s pound-for-pound list behind Oleksandr Usyk, Naoya Inoue, Terence Crawford and Errol Spence Jr respectively. He will be hoping for a big performance in front of his home crowd to help him climb the standings again.

Alvarez now has a record of 58-2-2, with 39 of those victories coming by stoppage. He had been running out of opponents in the super middleweight division, so the test against Ryder represents a fresh challenge for him.

Read Also: Mixed Martial Arts: What Is It and Why You Should Give It a Try

Ryder Faces the Biggest Test of His Career

British boxer Ryder has earned the opportunity to face Alvarez for the four major belts in the super middleweight division after recording four straight victories. His last world title shot came against Callum Smith in 2019 and he lost that encounter on points.

Ryder took on former world champion Daniel Jacobs last year in London and he beat the American on points in what was an impressive performance. He then followed that up with success against Zach Parker for the vacant WBO interim super-middleweight title. He stopped the fellow British boxer in the fifth round of that fight.

At the age of 34, this is a huge opportunity for Ryder to make a big name for himself around the world. Victory against Canelo would rank as one of the biggest upsets in recent years in the sport. Only Mayweather Jr and Bivol have managed to defeat the Mexican in the professional ranks.

Ryder, who is the mandatory challenger to Alvarez, has hinted this could be the last fight of his career should he lose. He has been a professional since 2010 and this will be the 38th fight since turning a pro.

The event at the Estadio Akron in Guadalajara will also include super lightweight boxer Jose Valenzuela, while Ukrainian Oleksandr Gvozdyk will compete in the light heavyweight division.