Ryder vows to leave Mexico with Alvarez’s full collection of belts

LONDON. — Some 16 years ago, John Ryder made a promise to his partner, Nancy, one he vows to finally honour on Saturday night in Guadalajara, Mexico. That promise? To become a world champion boxer. 

‘I told her I was going to be world champion,’ he told Mail Sport. ‘Two kids later – we’re not married yet, that will come — I still need to achieve that dream…”

On Saturday – or the early hours of Sunday morning, depending on where you’re watching from – we’ll find out exactly what Ryder is made of, in what represents one of the toughest challenges in boxing: fighting Canelo Alvarez in Mexico on Cinco de Mayo weekend. Indeed, the Echo Arena in Liverpool can be an unforgiving battlefield, as Ryder found out when he was controversially beaten by Callum Smith in his sole world title bid to date. But the circa 50,000 fans set to cram inside the Estadio Akron as Canelo entertains a Mexican crowd for the first time in almost 12 years will create an entirely different atmosphere.

Likewise, the prize on offer is worlds apart. Not a world title, but four. And not a win over a domestic rival, but a genuinely legacy-defining, all-time great British win on away soil. Pressure… or so you’d think.  

‘All the pressure is on Canelo,’ Ryder, who has a record of 32 wins and five defeats, continued. ‘There’s no pressure on me. It’s his first time back home in 12 years. I feel like I’m coming off a career-best year, while he’s potentially coming off a career-worst.

‘I know it’s against a different level of opposition, but he lost to Dmitry Bivol and then gave a lacklustre performance against Gennnady Golovkin. He didn’t look as he should have done.

 ‘A lot of people were expecting him to get Golovkin out of there, but he couldn’t. He’s had surgery on his wrist after that, so we’ll just have to see what he’s got left.’

It’s true: Canelo was undoubtedly the face of boxing in November 2021 when he beat Caleb Plant to become undisputed super-middlweight champion — a title he still holds.

Having reigned as the unified middleweight champion, and after a brief jump to light-heavyweight where he dethroned Sergey Kovalev, Canelo embarked on a year-long mission, defeating titleholders Callum Smith, Billy Joe Saunders and finally Plant to become the first-ever undisputed champion at 168lbs. History. — DailyMail UK.