JOHN RYDER’S long-time trainer Tony Sims says his man will hit Canelo Alvarez ‘head on’ as he goes in search of one of Britain’s greatest upsets.
WBO interim champion Ryder has been written off by many in this attempt on Alvarez’s four super-middleweight titles in Guadalajara, Mexico on Saturday night.
He is a huge betting underdog and Sims agrees that Ryder is attempting to pull off maybe the biggest shock in the history of British boxing, a win which would rank alongside the likes of John H Stracey beating Jose Napoles or Lloyd Honeyghan’s stoppage of Donald Curry.
Now it is Ryder who has crossed the Atlantic in search of an unlikely win and Sims insists they will be aggressive in their pursuit of victory.
“He’s worked his way to that position and he’s worked even harder in this camp,” Sims said.
“I believe this fight is going to be a great one whatever happens because John Ryder’s style of fighting mixed with Canelo’s means they are going to just hit head on and settle it.
“It would definitely be up there as one of the best wins ever by a British fighter. IF we are looking back to other upsets it would have to be considered alongside the biggest upsets of all.
“We’re talking alongside John H Stracey beating Jose Napoles and Lloyd Honeyghan beating Donald Curry. That’s what sort of upset it would be alongside.”
And Sims also believes that there is no better opportunity to beat Canelo given his form in 2022, which included a loss to Dmitry Bivol and a decision victory over Gennady Golovkin.
He added: “John is in great condition and he’s trained diligently for this fight and he’s probably at the pinnacle of his career at the moment. He had a great year in 2022 while Canelo probably had his worst year in 2022.
“This is probably the best time for this fight to take place and we are looking forward to it. This is what boxing is all about – you never know what’s round the corner, who you’re going to be fighting, one punch can end a fight.
“All I can say is that John has worked extremely hard to get into the position he’s got himself into which is mandatory, the WBO interim champion.”