According to his trainer Tony Sims, another significant fight for John Ryder will be announced within the next week.
Ryder, with a record of 32-6 (18), has managed to turn his career around after experiencing losses to Jack Arnfield and Rocky Fielding between September 2016 and April 2017. Following these defeats, ‘The Gorilla’ bounced back with victories against Patrick Nielsen, Jamie Cox, Andrey Sirokin, and Bilal Akkawy. Despite a controversial points defeat to Callum Smith in 2019, Ryder’s reputation as a leading super-middleweight remained intact.
In February 2022, Ryder returned to the world class by securing a split decision win against Daniel Jacobs. He then went on to halt Zach Parker nine months later after the latter retired at the end of the fourth round due to an injured hand. This victory earned Ryder a shot at Mexico’s world super-middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez in Guadalajara in May 2023. Although Ryder was defeated on points, his spirited performance, despite contending with a broken nose, only elevated his reputation.
Since then, Ryder, now 35 years old, has expressed his desire to face another big name at 168lbs, with names like Caleb Plant, Gennadiy Golovkin, and most recently, Jaime Munguia being mentioned as potential opponents.
“John Ryder’s next fight will be announced within the next week,” Sims told Boxing News on Thursday.
“He’s got a massive fight coming up with a big name. He’ll be over in America. I think Matchroom will be announcing it within the next week.
“Canelo’s got all the belts, but it’ll be the next biggest name that he’ll [Ryder] be fighting. I’m sure that in the next few days it’ll be announced.”
After guiding Joe Cordina to success in Monte Carlo last weekend, Sims is in Newcastle preparing middleweight rookie Jimmy Sains for his second fight on Matchroom’s NXTGEN card. It takes place on Saturday night (November 11) and is headlined by Shabaz Masoud-Jose Sanmartin.