Canelo Alvarez’s epic record of Brit bashing and what John Ryder has learned
Canelo Alvarez’s remarkable record of beating up British foes is just one more obstacle that underdog John Ryder is facing as he becomes the eighth UK boxer to challenge the Mexican icon.
Muhammad Ali was one of the original Brit bashers, ‘The Greatest’ winning six out of six fights against UK heavyweights. Added to the later struggles of Frank Bruno – who got knocked out four times by American fighters, including twice by Mike Tyson – it explains why British heavyweights had a poor international reputation for decades.
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That turned around dramatically in the era of Lennox Lewis, followed by Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua. But while Britain has enjoyed spectacular heavyweight success, the struggles against the real pound-for-pound elite from overseas has gone on.
Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao both stopped Ricky Hatton. Terence Crawford saw off Ricky Burns, Amir Khan and Kell Brook. But no modern fighter has had it in for more British opponents than Canelo.
Seven have tried and seven have failed before Ryder’s fight, with three Brits losing their unbeaten records and only two lasting the distance. Those were Callum Smith, who was all but shut-out over 12 rounds, and Ricky Hatton’s younger brother – Matthew – who impressively took a 20-year-old Canelo the distance in 2011.
Billy Joe Saunders was the last to try in 2021 and was enjoying some success until a crunching right uppercut shattered his orbital bone in round eight, effectively ending the fight.
How well Saunders was doing until that shot landed has been widely debated. Some boxing observers believe Saunders was frustrating Alvarez and boxing on even terms with him up to that point; others maintain that it was just a case of the often slow-starting Canelo biding his time and plotting a route to victory.
Nonetheless, the brash Saunders at least had success in nullifying Canelo’s offence through seven rounds. Like Billy Joe, Ryder is a southpaw. But unlike Saunders, Ryder likes to fight in the pocket which may not be an ideal tactic against a super-middleweight with Canelo’s power, variety and accuracy.
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The stark fact is that only two boxers have officially outpointed Canelo in 62 pro fights: Floyd Mayweather a decade ago and Dmitry Bivol last year. Ryder on the other hand has lost to the likes of Saunders, Rocky Fielding and Callum Smith – all of whom are Canelo victims.
But Ryder’s fiercely disputed decision defeat to the then-unbeaten Smith in 2019 actually showed how far he had come. In fact, seeing how successful the smaller Ryder was in staying inside and catching Smith perhaps explains why Canelo was so eager to take on the 6ft 3in ‘Mundo’ (Smith lost to Canelo in his very next fight after debatably decisioning Ryder).
Alvarez also crushed Fielding (KO3) in 2018, having two years earlier fought a pair of Brits back-to-back. Khan had genuine success with his hand speed early on before, inevitably, Canelo began to time him and the sixth-round knockout that rendered Amir unconscious was one of the most brutal of the year.
Next in 2016 came Liam Smith – perhaps a stylistically similar (if orthodox) fighter to Ryder, in that he’s tough, stands his ground and is a craftier boxer than it might first appear. Liam lasted into round nine with Canelo before a left hook to the body ended matters.
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Before that came Alvarez’s first UK double, way back in 2011, when he was a rising star. First, Matthew Hatton showed incredible guts to last the distance with Canelo, who came in above the agreed 150lb catchweight for their bout and probably weighed a stone more than Hatton on the night.
“He came in, wearing one of those big Mexican gowns,” Hatton told Boxing News. “He took it off and I looked over: f*** me, he looked like Popeye after the spinach. He was huge!”
If Hatton did incredibly well to hear the final bell, Ryan Rhodes almost did the same three months later – making it into round 12 before being stopped. Yet the Rhodes fight actually demonstrated how rapidly Canelo was improving. He looked far more patient and defensively savvy as he broke down the experienced Rhodes – a former stablemate of Naseem Hamed – and gave a hint of the great champion he was turning into.
Ryder probably cannot take a lot of information from fights that took place 12 years ago. However the Brits who won some early rounds against Canelo – mainly Saunders and Khan – showed how vital it is to make a good start. But then, Ryder may not want to see the violent end that befell both boxers.
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At least ‘The Gorilla’, a late bloomer who’s won nine out of his last 10 fights – the only loss being the debatable defeat by Callum Smith – knows first-hand what he’s up against. Ryder was first reserve to step in should either of the Saunders or Bivol fights have fallen through late on.
It goes without saying Ryder will need a career-best performance to push Canelo, and a bit more besides. He will also need Alvarez, at 32 the younger man by two years but with plenty of miles on the clock, to show that wear-and-tear has caught up with him.
Canelo looked poor by his sky-high standards in the defeat up at 175lb against Bivol and in his third bout against an aged Gennady Golovkin (albeit Alvarez still won comfortably despite carrying the hand injury that required surgery before this fight in Mexico).
Ryder can take some tips from the Brits that have come before him: start fast, try to outwork the sometimes low-output Canelo, and be wary of the traps he is always looking to set. But in truth it will be one of the great modern upsets if the Londoner can avoid becoming the eighth British Canelo victim out of eight fights.
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