Canelo Álvarez is finalizing a title fight against John Ryder for May 6, ESPN reports. The bout will be for the undisputed super middleweight championship and is expected to take place in Álvarez’s hometown of Jalisco, Guadalajara.
The Mexican boxing star’s last match was in September when he defeated Gennadiy Golovkin by unanimous decision in the finale of their fight trilogy. After the win, he said he was going to rest his injured hand and wanted a rematch against Dimitry Bivol.
The Ryder fight would be a year after Álvarez (58-2-2, 39 KOs) lost to Bivol in a light heavyweight title match. This was Álvarez’s first defeat since 2013 when he lost to Floyd Mayweather Jr. by majority decision.
Álvarez, 32, had surgery on his wrist in October. He currently holds all four super middleweight belts.
Álvarez has not fought in Mexico since 2011 when he knocked out Kermit Cintron in Mexico City. His last fight in Guadalajara was a year prior at the age of 19, knocking out Luciano Leonel Cuello to capture the WBC Silver light middleweight title.
Ryder (32-5, 18 KOs) is on a four-fight winning streak after losing a controversial decision to Callum Smith in 2019. The British southpaw, 34, is the owner of the interim WBO super middleweight belt, which he captured in his last match when he knocked out Zach Parker in November.
The London native has never fought in Mexico.
Álvarez will be the early favorite to win and Ryder knows the implications that the fight holds.
‘It would absolutely be a dream come true, I’m sure there would be a movie made about it at some point down the line because it would be an absolute blockbuster,’ he told Seconds Out last month of the possibility of beating Álvarez. ‘To hand off a belt in this boxing game, no one could have seen this coming four or five years ago. … So the fact that I’ve stuck at it, turned it around and had the belief in myself and the belief of other people in me to carry on is a great thing.’
Outside of the ring, Álvarez is set to appear in ‘Creed 3’ in March and has a cameo in a Michelob ULTRA commercial for Super Bowl 57.