Recently retired John Ryder can imagine the last two opponents of his stellar career facing one another in front of tens of thousands of fans.
Ryder lost a hard, physical decision to Canelo Alvarez in Guadalajara last May, and lost in the ninth-round to Jaime Munguia in January before calling it a day this week, and beginning to focus on life after boxing as a trainer.
The 35-year-old southpaw retired following 32 wins and seven losses, and admits the Canelo fight may have been the last straw upon reflection post-Munguia.
“I don’t want to discredit him [Munguia] in any way,” Ryder began, “but I feel like the Canelo fight may have taken its toll on me. I got old overnight. At the time [after Canelo], I said I couldn’t wait to do it again and go again, but this is eight months down the line now. I don’t know. I felt good in training, I felt good in sparring. I was doing all the runs, but clearly it wasn’t there on fight night and that could be down to me getting old overnight but it could just be down to me not being at that level anymore and Munguia being that step ahead.”
Munguia was impressive against Ryder, and now is unbeaten in 43 fights. Aged 27, the young Mexican star is tipped for big things.
“His handspeed was good, his [punch] volume wasn’t what I thought it would be,” explained Ryder. “I don’t know if that was me negating his work and maybe slowing down his pace a bit, but his handspeed and punch power was pretty good.”
Munguia got off to a blistering start, with Ryder down in rounds two and four and unable to turn the tide of the fight before the stoppage. Ryder gave Canelo a more difficult night, but that does not mean the Englishman thinks Munguia would beat Canelo.
“Styles make fights,” said Ryder. “The longer it goes [in terms of the fight being made], the more he becomes a handful for Canelo. I mean, you’ve got one man coming down and one man going up and the longer it goes, the better it is for Munguia; the sooner the fight happens, the better it is for Canelo.”
Regardless of if or when it is made, it is one Ryder has more than a passing interest in and one he thinks would be worth tuning in to as a fan.
“Definitely,” he said. “I think it would be a good fight for the Mexican fans. You never know, the Azteca Stadium, 100,000 fans, that could be a huge night for them.”
