IBF flyweight champion Sunny Edwards will be supporting compatriot John Ryder as he bids to overcome enormous odds and upset Canelo Alvarez in Mexico this weekend.
Edwards faces Chilean Andres Campos in Wembley on June 10 but clearly has plenty of respect for his Matchroom stablemate Ryder, the southpaw nicknamed “The Gorilla.”
“I would love Ryder to do it,” Edwards said. “I like John. I think he’s alright. I feel like… Where’s Canelo at right now? He’s obviously a very very good fighter but where’s he at this second? Ryder has put in a few good performances, obviously against the likes of Callum Smith. There are a few worries, a few losses on there for me, the Billy Joe Saunders loss, a knockout loss to Nick Blackwell… not the kind of things you want to see on a record before getting in the ring with Canelo, albeit a long time ago.”
Ryder will contend he has become a different fighter, both through experience and moving up to super-middleweight, where he has done the best work of his career. But the left-handed challenger is a heavy underdog. Still, Edwards, who impressed recently as an analyst breaking down fights on DAZN, hopes Ryder has success.
“Me personally, I think he [Ryder]’s one of the more resilient, tougher fighters at the weight we’ve got and if anyone’s really going to kind of grind it out, it might be him. He’s built for it. I’ve never really seen him hurt too much, I’ve seen him take shots and put in performances at a good level, so is it possible that he could pull it out? Maybe his toughness… he’s just built that way where it’s like, ‘Hold on, Canelo doesn’t really dent me as much as [people might have thought].’ And maybe, like a Bivol, it kind of unravels Canelo a little bit, he doesn’t make a dent and then gets picked off a bit and the fight’s closer than he’d want it and then he’s losing it.”
But despite looking for the positives, Edwards knows what it is. While not many have called it mission impossible, it is mission improbable. Ryder is good. A world class challenger, flying high after wins over Danny Jacobs and Zach Parker, but Edwards doesn’t anticipate the shock of the year.
“It is a massive ask, in Mexico, for John Ryder,” Sunny admitted. “Do I think Canelo is favoured? One hundred per cent. But you’ve got to root for the British man. I would love John to do it.”
