“I think the pressure is on him.” John Ryder believes Canelo will feel the heat fighting back home

By: Sean Crose

As if fighting Canelo Alvarez wasn’t challenging enough, John Ryder will now take on the contemporary boxing king in Canelo’s hometown of Mexico this weekend. England’s Ryder 32-5-1 will battle Canelo 58-2-2 for the red-haired star’s undisputed super-middleweight championship on Saturday at Zapopan’s Estadio Akron, located outside his hometown. Canelo is Guadalajara.

The scheduled 12th round match will be the main event of the DAZN pay-per-view card. Any match against Canelo is a big one, but Ryder is frankly not seen as a big challenge for Canelo, like Canelo’s recent rivals Gennady Golovkin, Demitry Bivol and Caleb Plant. However, Ryder, who is nicknamed “Gorilla”, has the goal of shocking the world.

“I knew it was going to be hostile; I was prepared for that,” he said of the man’s home game against Canelo. “I think to fight a champion you should go to their backyard to take their title and that’s what I’m doing. Most of the boxers went to Vegas or Texas to fight him, but I’m in Guadalajara in Lion’s Den.” Ryder points out that fighting in his native Mexico could actually go against Canelo this weekend.

“I think the pressure is on him,” he said. “He hasn’t boxed here in a long time and who expects anything from me? No one. People think I’m here for the paycheck, I’m not, I’m here to prove that dreams can come true. I worked hard to get here and I deserve to be here.”

Ryder also points out that, despite being only 32, Canelo has certainly had some wear and tear after facing the likes of Golovkin, Dmitry Bivol, Miguel Cotto, Sergey Kovalev and – of course – Floyd Mayweather.

“I think this is a good time to go against him,” Ryder said of Canelo, “he has a lot of miles on the clock. Last year he lost to Bivol, I find it strange that he went back to Light-Heavyweight, then he went back to 168 and while I don’t think it was a bad performance, I think people are looking forward to it. he would stop him (Golovkin) and put the final nail in the trio’s coffin and he didn’t, even though he won comfortably.”

With that said, Ryder, 34, says he wants to take on a Canelo who is in top form. “Obviously his hand was operated on,” Ryder said of Canelo’s recent surgery on his hand, “and there may be question marks about wear and tear, but I wanted the best version of him because I’ll bring out the best version of me.” Some might say Ryder should be careful with what he wants Ryder, however, looking extremely confident heading into this weekend.

“I had to embrace the moment,” he said. “After 12 rounds, my hand will be raised, and the new super middleweight world champion, from Islington, London, UK, John Ryder. It is a dream opportunity and I have no intention of wasting it.”