By Norm Frauenheim –
PHOENIX – Hostile crowds, long odds are nothing new to John Ryder. He’s gone where few fighters ever have.
Last May, it was Guadalajara, Canelo Alvarez’ hometown. Canelo had not fought there in 12 years. He was welcomed back, a warrior-king and the face of Mexican boxing.
Ryder was there, almost as an after-thought or maybe as a target.
But the after-thought had plenty to say. He fought back. He endured 12 punishing rounds, doggedly eluding the stoppage Canelo pursued.
He didn’t win the fight.
“But I kind of won the night,’’ said Ryder, who joked at a news conference Thursday that if he could have done anything different he would have avoided the uppercuts that bloodied his nose and set him up for a fifth-round knockdown.
But if survival is a victory, Ryder won despite one-sided cards and a one-sided crowd.
It’s an experience, perhaps, that has prepared him for the emerging Jaime Munguia in more way than Munguia knows.
For Ryder, there’s nothing that compares to what he faced in Guadalajara.
In Phoenix however, there are some similarities. The Footprint Center crowd figures to be dominated by Mexican and Mexican-American fans. It’ll be a Munguia crowd, one that knows him from his days in Tijuana. He’s 42-0, a middleweight champion fighting for the second time at 168 pounds.
Promoter Oscar De La Hoya said at Thursday’s newser that he’s “poised to become the next face of Mexican boxing.’’
Munguia is also the betting favorite, 3-to-1.
It’s almost as if Ryder is there as a steppingstone in the plan for Munguia’s next step to stardom, perhaps an all-Mexican encounter with Canelo in May.
“Possibly,’’ Ryder said. “But it’s at their own cost.’’
Ryder, a UK fighter making his first visit to Phoenix, concedes he’s facing a tough challenge. There’s pressure, too, more perhaps than what’s facing Munguia. Ryder is 35 years old. He says his career hinges on what happens Saturday in a DAZN-streamed fight (8 pm ET/6 pm AZ time).
“I need to keep my career on a high level, he said. “This is the fight to keep it going on.’’
