Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez reacts after win over John Ryder

He secured a unanimous 12-round decision

By Web Desk
May 07, 2023
Judge Jeremy Hayes scored the bout 120-107 for Alvarez while Joe Pasquale and Gerardo Martino both ruled 118-109 in favour of the champion — AFP

Saul "Canelo" Alvarez eased past John Ryder and secured a unanimous 12-round decision to retain his undisputed super middleweight world title on Saturday.

Alvarez dominated his first fight in his native Mexico in nearly 12 years.

Judge Jeremy Hayes scored the bout 120-107 for Alvarez while Joe Pasquale and Gerardo Martino both ruled 118-109 in favour of the champion.

"It's a historic moment for me," Alvarez said. "I'm blessed to be here with my people who supported me from the beginning."

Alvarez improved his record to 59-2-2, which includes 39 knockouts, while Ryder is now at 38-6.

After a cautious start, Alvarez took the attack to Ryder which left the latter bleeding from the nose and mouth by the time the fight reached the third round.

A ruthless left-right combination dropped Ryder in the fifth round but the Briton was able to beat the count. He was down again in the eight round but it was ruled as a slip by the officials.

The 10th and 11th were closer but not enough to disrupt Alvarez’s momentum.

"He's strong," Alvarez said. "I'm not surprised about it."

"I'm happy with the fight. I won and I'm happy that people had a great time."

Alvarez admitted he wasn't fully confident with regards to his left hand from the start of the match.

"I needed a couple of rounds to start punching and knowing I'm good with the hand," he said. "Now I know."

Fight card results

Canelo Alvarez (c) beat John Ryder via unanimous decision (120-107, 118-109, 118-109)

Julio Cesar Martinez (c) beat Ronal Batista via 11th-round TKO

Gabriel Gollaz Valenzuela beat Steve Spark via split decision (96-93, 94-95, 95-94)

Oleksandr Gvozdyk beat Ricards Bolotniks via sixth-round TKO

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