Despite a victory on Saturday, Canelo showed vulnerability

In a predictable surprise Canelo maintained his dominance Saturday night as he defeated John Ryder to continue his reign as undisputed super middleweight champion. What was the surprise you might ask? Majority boxing fans unfamiliar with Ryder walked away with a newfound respect for the British fighter after seeing his toughness on display and at times caught Canelo with some good combinations that momentarily hurt the super middleweight champion. With big names like Benavidez, Charlo, Bivol, Andrade and others eager to fight Alvarez, did Saul look like the version of himself that gives the audience and his fanbase confidence in his ability to defeat a murderous row of competition should he take that route.

It was apparent early in the fight Canelo imposed his will and took command in the third round. From that point on wherever you were whether you were in attendance, at a watch party, or at home, many of us were thinking it's only a matter of time. I jokingly made a comment to my god brother saying “Ryder out here trying to be real life Rocky”. Before I knew it the ninth round came about and I totally forgot I was expecting a KO to happen and due the efforts by Ryder I became intrigued with the possibility of it playing out just like the movies. Ryder in the ninth round had a moment where he stunned the champion and looked to be showing that he has grown immune to Alvarez’s power down the stretch.

Canelo responds to Ryder’s resilience and ability to hurt him by getting back to fighting at the pace he was at early on in the beginning, and it really helped him going into the 12th, as he could see the right hand coming and have the distance in his favor to counter. Saul accumulated a couple knock downs, Ryder a broken nose that we know of so far, can’t say Ryder’s type of toughness is common amongst all fighters so credit to Alvarez for fighting an opponent giving that type of effort. As expected, Canelo was victorious by unanimous decision which he would only get to enjoy for a short time. Saul is still the hunted, and the names I mentioned above might be thinking what others may be thinking in terms of Alvarez possibly looking vulnerable.