Canelo Alvarez floors John Ryder and leaves him bloodied in dominant victory, but fails to KO resilient Brit
Canelo Alvarez beat John Ryder by unanimous decision on Saturday night in Jalisco, Mexico.
The undisputed WBA, WBC, IBF and WBO super-middleweight king retained his crown on his homecoming in a dominant victory, but was unable to get the knockout he desired.
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The fight began with a typically tentative opening minute as both men sized one another up.
It did not take long for Ryder to apply his game plan though as he got up close to Canelo and fired away.
Alvarez responded by backing Ryder up and countering effectively later in the opener.
In round two, Canelo began to hammer home big hooks to the Brit's body.
The Mexican was hit by an eye-catching uppercut though as Ryder refused to be overawed in the very early stages.
Canelo drew blood from Ryder's nose early in the third as the pair traded toe-to-toe in the relatively small 18-foot ring.
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The challenger had repeated success with uppercuts, but was still being smashed with hard hooks by the champion who walked him down and backed him against the ropes.
By the end of round three, both Canelo and Ryder were covered in Ryder's blood.
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Some had speculated that the Mexican may try to keep this fight at range so as to neutralise the Brit's desire to box on the inside, but both men remained happy to slug it out at close quarters.
Canelo irrefutably had the best of this action and had Ryder badly bloodied again in the fourth.
By round five, the fight was becoming very one-sided as Mexico's superstar pummelled his British opponent.
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In an instant, Canelo floored Ryder as he landed a huge straight right hand which put him down against the ropes.
The challenger made it back to his feet and battled on to the end of the round.
As they reached the halfway point though, the champion was clearly in control and dominating the fight.
Ryder was persistent despite the one-sided nature of the contest and continued to trade with Canelo in the middle rounds.
The challenger struggled to make a dent in the champion though, and was left with a severely reddened face, covered in his own blood.
Canelo sent Ryder crashing to the canvas again in round eight, though the referee spotted that this was mainly due to a trip as the two boxers' legs tangled and so no knockdown was ruled.
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In the ninth though, the Brit was badly hurt for a second time and left staggering around the ring, but he incredibly called the Mexican on for more punishment and stood toe-to-toe with him, refusing to go down.
As they entered the latter stages, Canelo was clearly tired and his output slowed.
In the final round, the knockout wouldn't come for the Mexican and the Brit heard the final bell.
When the scorecards were read out, Canelo was declared the winner with scores of 120-107, 118-109, 118-109.
After the fight, he then labelled Ryder as the best Brit he has faced in his career.
Canelo said: “For them it’s a win, not getting knocked out, right?
“But, look we need to give him his credit, he came in to fight. His preparation was very good and I respect the fight he did.
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“He’s strong and he did everything in the ring and that’s what I expect because I saw him fighting with the other guys and he’s tough.”
Then when asked whether Ryder is the best Brit he has fought and he replied: “I think so, yeah.”
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