FIGHTING Saul “Canelo” Alvarez in Mexico, on Cinco de Mayo weekend, is potentially the toughest challenge in the sport.
I’d been lucky enough to box on Cinco de Mayo weekend on the undercard of Alvarez-Danny Jacobs in 2019 – I got to sit there and really soak up the atmosphere – and on the undercard of his fight with Billy Joe Saunders in 2021, so I’ve seen what happens and to an extent know what to expect from the Mexican fans. But this is Guadalajara, his hometown – the first time he’s boxed at home in 12 years – so it’s bound to be another special atmosphere. Like I’ve seen before, but multiplied. I’ve seen it among the fans from the seats; being in that ring at the Akron Stadium on Saturday, just me and him, and seeing all of the fans outside of it is bound to be pretty crazy, but I’m looking forward to it.
I went to the stadium for the press conference, so I’ve seen my way around, and I know my route to the stadium. Every night I sit there, go through it my head, and play it over. The ring walk; the changing room; behind the scenes. I’ve been there 100 times now already.
The judges are neutral, and so is the referee, so I’ve got to trust that they’ll do their job properly and that the fight gets judged fairly. If I go there with the perception that I’ve got to knock him out to win it’s going to be a hard night for me. If I go in there looking for a knockout it’d probably never come, so I need to go in there relaxed and box well. If it comes, it comes.
For the sake of his career he needed to take this fight back home to win the hearts of the Mexican fans again. He’s spent a lot of time in the States and the Mexicans wanted him home. It’s not only a good move for his career, it’s an even better one for his legacy.
At the final bell of Alvarez-Dmitry Bivol this time last year the concern was it wouldn’t have been judged fairly. From a fan’s perspective – and a boxer’s perspective – it was refreshing to see that a fight can be judged fairly. Even though I was hoping to fight him next, I was pleased to see that it’d been judged fairly.
I felt a bit disrespected at him already talking about a rematch with Bivol. But when everyone already knows that he fights twice a year – on Cinco de Mayo weekend and in September – it makes it up to me to put on a performance and make sure I’m the one in the opposite corner for a rematch later this year.
I don’t agree that him losing that fight means he’s in decline. But I do think 2022 was the worst year of his career – he lost to Bivol, and then he didn’t look great against Gennadiy Golovkin when everyone was expecting him to blast Golovkin out of there, even though Golovkin’s not the kind of fighter you do that to. He also injured his wrist and had to have surgery. Now we’ll all see what he’s got left.
I started my career at middleweight before moving up to super-middleweight. He started at super-lightweight and had a fantastic career that’s even taken him to light-heavyweight, but I’m the more natural at 168lbs.
The pressure’s all on him. It’s his first time back home in 12 years, and after the worst year of his career – last year was the best of mine – getting in there on fight night the pressure will be on him again.
The support I’ve had has been fantastic. Me and Joe Cordina were sharing an Airbnb for three weeks in the build-up to his successful fight with Shavkatdzhon Rakhimov. We were around each other a lot and really feeding off each other and spurring each other on, and it was nice because we had the common goal of big fights. I’m going to put on a show.
[Ryder was talking to Declan Warrington]
