Canelo beats Ryder by unanimous decision in return to Mexico

May 7, 2023  -GUADALAJARA, Mexico (AP) — Canelo Alvarez returned home and remained the undisputed super middleweight champion Saturday night, beating John Ryder by unanimous decision before more than 50,000 fans in his first fight in Mexico since 2011.

Alvarez bloodied the British challenger’s nose and knocked him down, cruising to the victory by scores of 120-107 on one card and 118-109 on the other two to improve to 59-2-2.

“I hit him too much in the head and he did not go down,” Canelo said at ring side after the fight. “I’ve always said it, when they fight me, they give their 100%, it gets complicated because they usually give me the fight of their lives”.

Ryder said that he suffered what is probably a broken nose in the second round and that played a major role in having his four-bout winning streak stopped and is 32-6.

“He´s probably past his best, he could not get me out there, he wanted to stop me and could not do it,” Ryder said at a press conference. “It could have been a little different without the problem to my nose, it took me a few rounds to get adjusted.”

It was Canelo´s first fight since he had surgery on his left wrist last March. Before the fight, he said the injury slowed him down in his previous four fights, including his loss to Russian light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol a year ago.