ANOTHER big fight for John Ryder will be announced within the next week according to his trainer Tony Sims.
Ryder, 32-6 (18), has turned his career around since losing narrowly to Jack Arnfield and Rocky Fielding between September 2016 and April 2017. ‘The Gorilla’ bounced back by winning four fights in a row against Patrick Nielsen, Jamie Cox, Andrey Sirokin and Bilal Akkawy. A controversial points defeat to Callum Smith in 2019 was a bitter pill to swallow for the Londoner but, in the process, his reputation as a leading super-middleweight was enhanced.
Ryder returned to world class in February 2022, beating Daniel Jacobs via split decision before a halting Zach Parker, who retired at the end of the fourth with an injured hand, nine months later. That victory set up a May 2023 shot at Mexico’s world super-middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez in Guadalajara. Ryder was beaten on points but his spirited performance, taking Canelo the distance while contending with a broken nose, did his stock no harm.
Since then, the 35-year-old has spoken of his desire to face another big name at 168lbs with Caleb Plant, Gennadiy Golovkin and, most recently, Jaime Munguia being mentioned as potential foes.
“John Ryder’s next fight will be announced within the next week,” Sims told Boxing News on Thursday.
“He’s got a massive fight coming up with a big name. He’ll be over in America. I think Matchroom will be announcing it within the next week.
“Canelo’s got all the belts, but it’ll be the next biggest name that he’ll [Ryder] be fighting. I’m sure that in the next few days it’ll be announced.”
After guiding Joe Cordina to success in Monte Carlo last weekend, Sims is in Newcastle preparing middleweight rookie Jimmy Sains for his second fight on Matchroom’s NXTGEN card. It takes place on Saturday night (November 11) and is headlined by Shabaz Masoud-Jose Sanmartin.
