John Ryder is back in action later this month following his courageous effort against Canelo Alvarez in Guadalajara, Mexico in September, where the Brit faced the Mexican ace in front of over 60,000 fans and won them over with his gutsy performance against the undisputed 168lb king.
Ryder now heads to Phoenix for what promises to be another thrilling battle against a Mexican star, this time with unbeaten former super-welterweight king and defending WBC silver super-middleweight champion Jaime Munguia.
The 27 year old thrilled fight fans in his last outing, a fight of the year rollercoaster in Ontario, California with battle-hardened Sergiy Derevyanchenko in June, with a 12th round knockdown proving the difference for Munguia seeing off the Ukrainian.
Ryder knows that his January 27 foe is eyeing up his own clash with Canelo, but ‘The Gorilla’ believes Derevyanchenko exposed flaws in Munguia’s game that he can expose and use to pull off a second victory on American soil.
“Jaime won fight of the year last year and I am sure that this fight can be a candidate for fight of the year for 2024,” said Ryder. “He’s got an unbelievable record, 42-0, and he’s got the carrot being dangled of the Canelo fight, like I had against Zach Parker.
“That adds pressure, you know that is potentially next, so you have to go out there and produce, so it’s down to him now. I’ve had my shot at Canelo, I doubt I’ll get another one if I beat Munguia, but that is the aim, to be in the biggest and best fights possible.
“I rate him, I think his record is not padded but he’s been well manoeuvred, his last fight with Sergiy he showed some vulnerabilities, he’s made a trainer change to Freddie Roach and that might be a good thing, it might not be, we’ll see. I know what he brings to the table, he throws a lot of shots, and he throws them with bad intentions, but that’s when I think I can capitalise on him.
“Sergiy gave him all the problems in the world last time, it came down to the last round and he put him over and the scorecards showed that. So, I hope the fight is judged fairly, I get a fair roll off the dice and that’s all I can ask for.”