John Ryder had only been stopped once in 37 professional fights. On Sunday, even in defeat, the Brit proved just why that is the case as he went the distance against Canelo Alvarez.
That is despite the Mexican superstar busting his nose open in the third round of the fight, with Ryder also later knocked down in the fifth round as Alvarez hunted the knockout.
Returning to Mexico for his first fight in the country in nearly 12 years, Alvarez was expected to get the finish against Ryder — a 10-1 outsider.
Of course, it was Alvarez who had his hand raised in the end, taking a unanimous decision win (120-107, 118-109) to improve his record to 59-2-2 and defend his WBC, WBA, IBF and WBO belts.
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But Alvarez was made to work for it and while it may have not been the victory Ryder was after, Sergio Mora described it as a “moral victory” for the challenger.
Chris Mannix, meanwhile, graded the overall performance a “B or B-minus” for Alvarez, who was returning to the ring following surgery on his left wrist.
“In previous years when Canelo Alvarez had a fighter as hurt as John Ryder, he would’ve finished him off,” added Mannix.
Darren Barker, meanwhile, described it as a “work-man like” performance from Alvarez but agreed Ryder was the biggest winner given the ambush he survived.
“His stock has risen,” Barker said on DAZN.
“No one gave him a chance. No one thought he would hear that final bell.”
It was a solid opening for Ryder even as Alvarez tried to walk him down, with the champion going after the body early with the lead hook and trying to set up the right hand over the top.
In fact, Alvarez had his best moment as he landed a big right hand and backed Ryder to the ropes. But Ryder did well to press Alvarez to the ropes himself early and throw some short punches.
Alvarez opened the second with a big overhand right and then went straight back to the body before again landing a right hand, letting his hands go more.
It continued to be a theme early in the fight as Alvarez worked the body to wear Ryder down before firing off a few big right hands, one of which caused blood to pour from his nose.
Ryder was able to get in a few solid counter shots as the pair traded punches on the inside but overall it was Alvarez doing more damage as he really worked his way into the fight.
The blood continued to pour from Ryder’s nose, to the extent that Todd Grisham said in commentary that it looked like Alvarez “had body paint all over him”.
It looked like Ryder’s nose may have been broken by the straight right hand from Alvarez, who gave the Brit little time to breathe under his relentless jabs and pressure.
Of course, breathing was even harder for Ryder with his nose causing all kinds of problems.
Ryder though was proving tough to take down, something which was to be expected given he had only been stopped once in 37 professional fights.
Alvarez did score a knockdown though as the Mexican superstar floored the British challenger with a 1-2, with it looking like Ryder wasn’t even going to beat the count.
But he did and Ryder didn’t just keep going — he took it to Alvarez, countering on the inside even as the champion rocked him with more big right hands, looking for the finish.
That finish didn’t come though and while the fight may have ended in defeat for Ryder, it was difficult to have anything but respect for the 34-year-old, who was left a bloody mess.
‘NEVER SEEN THAT BEFORE’: RARE DRAMA IN CO-MAIN EVENT
It was supposed to be a fight that would make Julio Cesar Martinez look good.
But instead the 28-year-old was really made to work as he successfully defended his WBC flyweight title against Ronal Batista in an 11th-round TKO victory in the co-main event on Sunday.
Martinez was the heavy favourite, with his power punching and pressure expected to be far too much for Batista.
His Panamanian rival though was well and truly up for the battle early, hanging in there for the first few rounds and even landed plenty of good shots of his own.
Of course, Martinez was landing some hard shots too but Batista was not backing down, standing and trading blows to take it to the champion.
Batista was deducted a point in the fourth round though for an illegal shot after the bell but that setback didn’t discourage the 28-year-old, who continued to keep the fight close.
Even if Martinez was ahead of the scorecards, it certainly wasn’t the dominant display many may have expected.
If Martinez was behind on the scorecards, however, a seventh-round knockdown that was initially ruled a slip would have been even more controversial.
“That was a knockdown,” Sergio Mora said in commentary for DAZN.
“Batista is rocked. That was a clean shot. He got caught pulling back. Maybe he stepped on his foot but it does not matter, it’s still a clean shot to the chin and in a fight where Martinez may be behind on points that’s going to be crucial.”
In a rare event though, Martinez was retrospectively awarded the knockdown and a 10-8 round by the World Boxing Council’s video replay system.
“I’ve never seen that before,” Mora said.
“I’m told they went to the replay and saw it was a clean knockdown,” added Chris Mannix.
“I still don’t know why the president of the WBC is coming over to tell us. This is not a WBC decision. This is a commission decision. They went to the replay and made this decision.”
In the end though there was little time to dwell on the drama of the decision as Batista faded in the latter rounds, with Martinez finally getting the finish in the 11th.
It was Martinez’s 15th career knockout, with the referee calling a stoppage after he backed Batista against the ropes and went after his opponent with a series of brutal shots.
With Batista not responding or offering any real resistance, the referee had little choice but to step in.
EARLIER: AUSSIE SPARK IN SCORECARD CONTROVERSY
Former WBC light middleweight champion Sergio Mora predicted the bout between Stevie Spark and Gabriel Gollaz Valenzuela could be the “fight of the night”.
It certainly delivered but Australian Spark fell short in the end, going down in a split decision defeat (96-93, 94-95, 95-94) to Gollaz after a 10-round war.
While Spark hit harder than his rival and primarily had the better moments of the pair throughout the fight as a whole, he was knocked down in the sixth round.
Professional boxers and DAZN experts Jessica McCaskill and Darren Barker agreed Spark should have won, with Barker calling it a “hometown decision”.
That knockdown though, ultimately, may have been what cost the Australian in what was an entertaining fight on Sunday’s Canelo Alvarez vs John Ryder undercard.
You can read a full recap of that fight here!
Earlier on Sunday’s card, Oleksandr Gvozdyk came to life in the sixth round after a relatively slow start to his fight against Ricards Bolotniks, scoring a TKO victory.
Gvozdyk, who had been on a 17-fight win streak before being outclassed by Artur Beterbiev, was expected to take care of Bolotniks and eventually did just that.
It took a while for Gvozdyk to get going though but once he did Bolotniks was no match for the Ukrainian’s power.
Gvozdyk rocked Bolotniks with a straight right hand before following it up with a series of punches that later prompted the referee to call an end to the fight.
Meanwhile, 18-year-old Nathan Rodriguez moved to a 11-0 record as he took a majority decision victory (95-95, 96-93, 96-94) over Alexander Mejia.
FULL FIGHT CARD RESULTS
Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (c) def. John Ryder via unanimous decision (120-107, 118-109) — Undisputed super middleweight title
Julio Cesar Martinez (c) def. Ronal Batista via 11th-round TKO — WBC flyweight title
Gabriel Gollaz Valenzuela def. Stevie Spark via split decision (96-93, 94-95, 95-94) — Super lightweight
Nathan Devon Rodriguez def. Alexander Mejia via majority decision (95-95, 96-93, 96-94) — Featherweight
Oleksandr Gvozdyk def. Ricards Bolotniks via sixth-round TKO — Light heavyweight