Canelo Alvarez vs. John Ryder Fight Card, Odds, & Predictions

Boxing’s Cinco De Mayo event this year will feature Mexico’s pride Canelo Alvarez (58-2-2) as he defends his undisputed super middleweight title against challenger John Ryder (32-5) this Saturday, May 6, inside Akron Stadium in Mexico. It will be Alvarez’s third title defense of all his super middleweight titles, and he comes in as the heavy betting favorite in boxing odds at -1600. His challenger, Ryder, is the overwhelming underdog at +2000, as he already has five losses on his record.

It's 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 #CaneloRyder fight week!

👊🇲🇽 pic.twitter.com/ikLmCaOCTw

— Matchroom Boxing (@MatchroomBoxing) May 1, 2023

Alvarez is fresh off a bounce-back win over Gennadiy Golovkin to finish that rivalry and chapter with a unanimous-decision victory to retain the IBF, WBA, WBC, and WBO Super Middleweight titles. Before beating Golovkin for the second time in three bouts, the 32-year-old Alvarez suffered his second career defeat at the hands of Dmitry Bivol via unanimous decision when he moved up in the light heavyweight division to try and win another title.

Meanwhile, John Ryder scored a massive upset of previously unbeaten boxer Zach Parker in November 2022 after Parker sustained a right-hand injury in the fourth round of their WBO Interim World Super Middleweight title showdown. It was Ryder’s second taste of an interim title after he captured the WBA Interim World Super Middleweight title in May 2019 against Bilal Akkawy. This will also be Ryder’s second major world title fight.

Canelo Alvarez Recent Fight Results

Before becoming the undisputed super middleweight champion, Canelo Alvarez held titles in two more weight divisions, light middleweight and middleweight. During his run in these two divisions, he scored big wins over other boxing stars like Shane Mosley, Miguel Cotto, Amir Khan, Liam Smith, and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. The only boxing superstar he hasn’t defeated is Floyd Mayweather Jr., who schooled him in their September 2013 showdown via majority decision.

After dominating these two divisions, Alvarez moved up to the light heavyweight division in November 2019 to challenge Sergey Kovalev for the WBO World Light Heavyweight title. He dethroned Kovalev with an 11th-round knockout to claim another world title in a higher weight class. Since that 175-pound title triumph, the pride of Guadalajara, Mexico, has cleared the super middleweight division and unified all the major belts.

In December 2020, Alvarez defeated Callum Smith via unanimous decision to retain the WBA Super World Middleweight title and capture the vacant WBC World Super Middleweight title. Two months later, he averted the challenge from Avni Yildirim with a third-round corner stoppage to defend both the WBA and WBC titles. Then in May 2021, the 32-year-old added the WBO World Super Middleweight title to his collection with an eighth-round finish of Billy Joe Saunders.

Alvarez finally solidified his status as the undisputed and unified super middleweight champion of the world in November 2021 after another dominant victory over Caleb Plant via 11th-round TKO stoppage. Because of this incredible feat, Alvarez dared to move again in weight and challenged Dmitry Bivol for the WBA Super World Light Heavyweight title, but the defending champion displayed a masterclass to give Alvarez his second career loss via unanimous decision. It was a gigantic upset that sent shockwaves to the entire boxing community worldwide.

That tough loss didn’t deter Alvarez as he returned to the super middleweight division to face his nemesis Gennadiy Golovkin and close the chapter of their rivalry with a third meeting in September 2022. The Mexican superstar scored a unanimous decision win to complete this chapter in his career and retain all of his world titles. Alvarez’s next challenger is the U.K’s John Ryder, and he hopes to finish him in another highlight-reel stoppage victory.

AND STILL 🏆@Canelo closes the chapter on his trilogy with GGG with a dominant victory at #CaneloGGG3 pic.twitter.com/yoiSUjqs22

— ESPN (@espn) September 18, 2022

John Ryder Recent Fight Results

John Ryder is a boxer out of London, England, who was undefeated in his first 15 boxing fights with nine finishes. Due to his perfect record, he was able to crack a title shot against Billy Joe Saunders in September 2013 for the BBBofC British Middleweight and Commonwealth Boxing Council Middleweight titles. Ryder came up short of his first title bid and yielded a unanimous decision defeat to Saunders. 

Following this maiden loss, “The Gorilla” went on a five-fight streak, where he captured the vacant WBO Inter-Continental Middleweight title against Theophilus Tetteh via fifth-round TKO and defended it over Billi Facundo Godoy with a 10th-round TKO finish. These wins have earned him another opportunity for the BBBofC British Middleweight title; however, he sustained another loss from Nick Blackwell, who defeated him through a seventh-round TKO.

After this setback, the 34-year-old went on to fight nine more times, winning seven times and losing the other two. Along with these wins, he earned the vacant IBF International Super Middleweight title. In May 2019, Ryder challenged Bilal Akkawy for the WBA Interim World Super Middleweight belt, and he finally maximized the opportunity by stopping Akkawy in the third round to win his first major boxing title.

However, Ryder’s dream of holding a non-interim world title was again busted as he absorbed a unanimous decision loss from Callum Smith to deny him the WBA Super World Super Middleweight and WBC Diamond Super Middleweight titles in their November 2019 showdown. But the London native continued his pursuit by piling up three consecutive wins over Mike Guy, Jozef Jurko, and Daniel Jacobs.

The latest victory by Ryder came at the expense of previously unbeaten boxer Zach Parker, whom he forced to withdraw after the fourth round of their November 2022 clash, as Parker injured his wrist in the opening stages of the fight and was unable to continue. Ryder took not only the perfect record of Parker, but he also collected the vacant WBO Interim World Super Middleweight title to set up this clash with Canelo Alvarez.

Who would have called this?! 🤯

Zack Parker has had to pull out after the 4th round due to an injury to his hand.@_John_Ryder_ has been awarded the victory.#ParkerRyder pic.twitter.com/7IZJ89jaA0

— Boxing on TNT Sports (@boxingontnt) November 26, 2022

Canelo Alvarez vs. John Ryder: Tale of the Tape

Canelo Alvarez vs. John Ryder: Fight Analysis

There isn’t much of a difference in the tale of the tape between Canelo Alvarez and John Ryder, except the one-and-a-half-inch reach advantage that the latter will be holding. They both are in the same height frame of 5-foot-9, but Alvarez has the better record of 58 wins, two losses, and two draws compared to Ryder’s 32 wins and five losses. Also, the Mexican has the higher TKO/KO rate at 67% versus the Brit’s 56%.

Stylistically, Alvarez has a clear edge against Ryder because of his fighting method of moving forward and putting pressure on his opponents. There might be times that Ryder surprises Alvarez a bit with his aggression and work rate, but as the match moves forward and progresses, expect the defending champion to adjust mid-fight to counter and neutralize this attack from the challenger.

Alvarez’s combination of patience, timing, power, and counterpunching will give Ryder a handful of problems in this fight if Ryder indeed proceeds with his usual point of attack. Add the quick and stiff jabs that Alvarez employs, then Ryder might be in for a short night. Lastly, this is Alvarez’s homecoming in front of his Mexican compatriots in over a decade, which means he needs to deliver an outstanding performance to cap off another memorable Cinco De Mayo event.

Canelo Alvarez vs. John Ryder: Date and Start Time

May 6, 2023, 7 p.m. PT

May 6, 2023, 9 p.m. CT

May 6, 2023, 10 p.m. ET

Canelo Alvarez vs. John Ryder: Fight Prediction

Official Prediction: TKO/KO victory for Canelo Alvarez.

See the entire Canelo Alvarez vs. John Ryder odds and wagers here.