John Ryder Trusts Canelo Alvarez Fight Will Be Judged Fairly Despite Being In Mexico
John Ryder isn’t worried about the judging for his upcoming title fight against Canelo Alvarez.
Ryder is set to take on Alvarez on Saturday as the Mexican gets to fight back in his hometown for the first time in 12 years. It will be a massive event in Mexico and although Alvarez is a big star there, Ryder says he isn’t worried about the judges being corrupt.
“No, not at all,” Ryder said (h/t BoxingScene). “In the contract, it’s three neutral judges, a neutral referee. I think we saw in the Bivol fight, it will be judged fairly on the fight. We’ve got to trust in the judges to do their job properly.
“Often if you go looking for a knockout in a fight, it will never come, because you’re too desperate to get it. So I’m fully focussed on what I do and doing it well, and coming away victorious,” Ryder continued. “I’m not going to get greedy and go for a stoppage. You’ve got to give Canelo the respect he deserves — he’s been a great champion for many years. I’ve gone looking for stoppages in the past, and then made a hard night’s work of it. I’m gonna go with what I do best — box, be sensible and listen to the words of the gameplan that Tony Sims has set out for me.”
John Ryder enters the fight against Canelo Alvarez as a massive underdog and not many are giving him much of a chance. But, Ryder knows that he has all the tools to pull off the upset as he believes he can feed off the crowd and he thinks by the end of the night, he can turn the fans on his side.
“I don’t know if I’ll ever fight in front of another crowd as hostile as this. But I think the Mexican fans are all fight fans, so they might boo me on the way in, but as long as we give them what they want in the fight, I’m sure they’ll cheer me on the way out,” Ryder said. “In Liverpool, against Callum Smith, there were a few cutthroat gestures and stuff like that. It’s to be expected, you’re taking on their hometown hero. But if [a crowd is] for me, I’m absorbing that, it’s spurring me on, but if they’re against me, you’ve got to block it out and be that mentally strong side where you can really spur yourself on.”
Do you think John Ryder can beat Canelo Alvarez?