Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez (58-2-2, 39 KOs) returns home today, appearing in Mexico for the first time in over a decade. His opponent is the tough, aggressive John Ryder (38-5-0, 18 KOs). Between them they’ll be hoping to put on a show for the 50,000 or so fans at the Estadio Akron.
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The fight will be available on DAZN PPV in the US and DAZN streaming wherever it’s available worldwide. The main card will start at 7PM ET, with ringwalks on the main event expected 11PM ET. For full details on how to get the fight, see our guide here.
This post is for the main event play-by-play. For results and highlights of the undercard, find our dedicated page here.
We’re live with the main event ringwalks. Join us below for the round-by-round call.
Canelo vs Ryder
Play-by-play
Round 1: Great atmosphere here, as the locals turn out for the return of Canelo to Mexico. They’re making a whole thing: he’s got his Grandma at one of his fights for the first time and everything. Anyway, here we go.
We see one punch in the first 40 seconds, as they feint it out in center ring. Ryder doesn’t want to commit and take those counters. And we see why, coz about the first time he does open up, he takes a hard bodyshot. It’s the tricky balance for him – he’s an inside boxer himself, has to keep Canelo busy, but avoid those hard counters, especially to the body. He’s done alright in the first round, but Canelo is landing the cleaner work. 10-9 Canelo
Round 2: Canelo edging forward to start round 2, trying to control the space. He seems to be mixing it up – he was fading to the ropes in round 1, but more on the front foot now. Ryder isn’t committing too much – something we’ve seen from him before early in fights, as he struggles to get his rhythm going. Canelo’s head movement is making Ryder’s jab a bit ineffective, too. 10-9 Canelo, 20-18
Round 3: Ryder already looking pretty battered, and Canelo pushing him back to the ropes. He isn’t going to get it to deeper waters like this. Canelo full of confidence, exactly what he needed after a tricky year last year. Ryder ends the round getting forward into the clinch and wrestling, but after the ref breaks them Canelo backs him to the ropes. 10-9 Canelo, 30-27
Round 4: We did honestly expect a more aggressive Ryder. Sure, he is facing the best boxer of his career, but he’s asking a lot if he just wants to soak punishment and hope Canelo gasses. He’s not giving up that much, to be fair – he’s keeping it fairly tight. But Canelo is landing significant work and Ryder just really isn’t. The liver shots with Canelo’s lead hand to the southpaw Ryder are landing incessantly, and his right side is very, very red. 10-9 Canelo, 40-36
Round 5: Ryder starts to throw a little bit more in this round. Trying to step in behind the jab. He needs to get inside, make it messy. Has landed a couple, this is a bit better. And a nice left to the body. Still taking the more shots, but this is better. But then Canelo lands a straight right on the counter and drops him! A minute left to survive! Ryder responds by fighting fire with fire. He seems to be steady enough on his feet, not a fight-ender that. Canelo looking for the KO and gets a bit messy himself. Not, like, dangerously, he’s just decided he wants to end this soon. Won’t happen this round though. 10-8 Canelo, 50-44
Round 6: That left hook to the body from Canelo really is money. Just no defence for it at all whenever Ryder jabs. The Brit was told in the corner he needs to go for it, and he is to be fair. Canelo knocks him sideways with a right but fights back. Canelo not respecing his power at all, walking him down throughout the round. He makes it to halfway, but this is tough, tough work for Ryder. 10-9 Canelo, 60-53
Round 7: This is where Ryder started to get into the fight against Jacobs. Is he goning to do similar against Canelo? Probably not, but the champion has faded late nefore. Not showing signs of it yet, but Ryder is pushing harder round-by-round. Dangerous for him, but he lands a good lead right upstairs and is starting to get past the guard a bit more. Don’t get it wrong though, Canelo still doing the cleaner, sharper work and pushing the bloodied Ryder back consistently. Yet another liver shot makes Ryder pause momentarily. That could be twhere we see the end come from. 10-9 Canelo, 70-62
Round 8: Canelo seems to want the ending now, is pushing the tempo and pushing Ryder to the ropes. Ryder rocking and rolling but spins and pushes Canelo to thecorner. Ref helps Canelo out, not that he needs it but Ryder’s not gonna get far if they get broken every time they start to clinch. Odd incident at the bell- Canelo drops Ryder, the ref scores it a slip. The punch did land on Ryder’s glove, but neither was there a tangle of legs. Either way, not a good sign for Ryder. Still, 10-9 Canelo, 80-71
Round 9: Ryder has gone longer than a lot of people saw him going, though it’s hard to claim a moral victory coz he looks a mess. Still, he’s in there and still trying. Canelo drives him back with sharply timed rights. The champion being a bit more patient now though than the round previous, lookng to make his work cleaner and less wild. It’s working – those sharp short rights rock Ryder again, but he refuses to go down. And he lands a couple of solid shots of his own as the round ends! Nowhere near enough to win the round, mind, but he’s still fighting. 10-9 Canelo, 90-80
Round 10: Canelo has seemed on the verge of breaking Ryder so many times, yet not got there yet. Ryder’s corner is yelling that Canelo is tiring. That’s probably true, but also probably not true enough to get the knockout he needs. It is his best round by far though. aCanelo starting to fall short with the odd shot. A close round this. We’ll still give it to Canelo, but he took that off to a large extent. 10-9 Canelo, 100-89
Round 11: This is quite an odd thing to say because he’s been completely dominant., but Canelo may be disappointed with this. He’ll have wanted the knockout, and he’s running out of time to get it. Especially since Ryder looks, despite the beating, somehow relatively fresh. Canelo not really working any combinations anymore, looking for single power hands behind the jab. Ryder splitting his guard and the head movemnt isn’t quite what it was. It’s not a classic Canelo performance by any means. This was a slower round. 10-9 Ryder, 109-99
Round 12: Final round. Canelo wants the knockout, Ryder needs it. He’s left it all on the table here. Cannot argue with his toughness or effort. Canelo almost looks happy to just see this out and get the dominant win now- he isn’t in danger but the gas tank has got to him yet again. He bangs his gloves together and beckons Ryder in, but the Brit is the one throwing. They go 12. 10-9 Ryder, 118-109
We should note that the crowd didn’t seem too impressed either: the atmosphere was incredible at the start, but it’s pretty dead now. There was applause at the end, but not a roar.
Canelo Alvarez wins, 120-107, 118-109, 118-109
Highlights
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