Credit: Twitter
Canelo Alvarez remained the undisputed middleweight champion as he took John Ryder by unanimous decision in his first fight after March 2011, in front of 50,000 spectators. After his win over Ryder, Canelo has his eyes set on the rematch against his rival, the light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol in September.
The Mexican champ defended his undisputed super-middleweight crown as he took his British opponent down by 120-107 on one card and 118-109 on the other two to improve to 59-2-2.
Watch Alvarez knocked down Ryder in the fifth round:
In his interview post-win, when he was asked who he wants next following his win over Ryder, he simply said that he is looking forward to the rematch with Dmitry Bivol. However, he also left the door open for other alternatives. Speaking in a post-match interview, he said, "This was historic! I'm happy with the fight... John is a very strong fighter. We want Bivol, same rules, and terms!" “If the fight with Bivol doesn’t happen, then we’ll see. I’m able to fight everybody,” he further added.
Watch the video here:
Replying to the Mexican's call, Bivol said that while he has already beaten Canelo in the 175 lbs category, and now that he is taking risk to 168 lbs to try the new category. He also said that why should he even have a rematch in the former category as he has already beaten Canelo in that weight class.
Notably, Canelo has been clear that if the fight with Bivol doesn’t happen, he will be going back up to 175 lbs, and won’t ask Bivol to come down to 168 lbs to fight. Before yesterday’s fight, he was seen saying that his injury slowed him down in his previous four fights, which includes his loss to Dmitry Bivol, a year ago.
The Mexican pugilist who competed on home turf after a gap of 11 years at the Estadio Akron stadium in Guadalajara, Mexico received a grand welcome as he made his entrance for the fight.
Speaking of his bout with Ryder, their fight started at a slow pace in the first two rounds, but Canelo connected with a straight and Ryder started bleeding from his nose in the third. Canelo landed body shots in the fourth round, which knocked his opponent down to the mat. Ryder came back in the game in the fifth round, but Alvarez landed another right in the ninth. The British tried hard to fight back and did quite well in the last two rounds, but his efforts weren’t enough to get him the victory.
