Recently retired former world title challenger John Ryder is one of only two men (the other being Liam Smith) to have faced both Canelo Alvarez and Jaime Munguia.
The 35-year-old Brit traveled to Mexico and faced Canelo in front of over 50,000 fans and stood tall despite early damage to his nose and lasted the course losing a wide 12-round unanimous decision in May 2023.
His next fight came six-months later when he headed to Phoenix and faced Munguia. While he put up a spirited effort, he was dropped four times and stopped in nine rounds.
That win went along way to securing Munguia a shot at Canelo, the current Ring super middleweight champion. Having shared the ring with both men, Ryder is well-placed to offer some insight.
“I think it’s a great fight,” Ryder told The Ring. “I know people are a bit disappointed it’s not [David] Benavidez and I suppose most fans will be but I think for the Mexican fight fans you’ve not been too short changed, you’ve got two Mexican’s against one another in a fight that’s going to be a Fight of The Year contender for sure. It’s a shame it’s not in somewhere like the Azteca.”
As Ryder points out, while most wish the man in the other corner was Benavidez, this should still be interesting and exciting because of how much better Munguia has gotten of late, while at the same time we may have seen some erosion in Canelo.
“I think you’ve seen improvements from Jaime Munguia under Freddie Roach,” he said. “I think if you look at his career from when he fought [Sergiy] Derevyanchenko to when he boxed me, I think the improvements were massive. Not that I underestimated him, I knew he’d make improvements but I didn’t realize how quickly he’d implement them into his game plan. He’s still not the finished article, I’m sure.
“This is the best time for him to be fighting Canelo; he’s young, he’s fresh, he’s hungry and Canelo is getting older by the day.”
After spending 36-minutes with Canelo he appreciates what makes boxing’s biggest star great.
“His ring generalship is spot on; he knows every inch of that ring,” he explained. “He’s very confident and patient. He knows his own ability, he’s very much four or five steps ahead of you, maybe five or six.
Jaime Munguia (left) and John Ryder (right) during their January 27, 2024 fight at the Footprint Center in Phoenix, AZ. Photo by Ed Mulholland/Matchroom
“He knows he’s going to throw that jab and you’re going to throw a counter back but he’s not going to be there for that, he’s going to be away off at an angle and throwing something back to off-set you again or make you reset. His boxing I.Q. is right up there.
“He’s not there to be hit whereas Munguia is there, he’s a bit crude in that fashion. He’ll throw threes and fours and you can hit him back with threes and fours, it’s going to be the battle of the chin.”
Meanwhile Ryder says the unbeaten Munguia’s youth and determination shouldn’t be written off.
“He’s got a fantastic work rate and he seems to keep it up throughout the rounds,” he said. “He’s high volume and punches in bunches and he hits hard with both hands, there’s a lot of snap in both hands.
“Whereas Canelo is a more calculated thudding puncher, he’ll look to get you out of there with a big shot, whereas I’d say Munguia is more of an accumulative puncher, he throws punches in bunches, he does like to mix it up at times. It’s the survival of the fittest and whose got the best chin. He’s young, hungry and so far it’s served him well.”
Ryder broke down each fighter in 10 key categories:
JAB
Canelo: “I’d say Canelo because the jab is there but he’s not there to be countered with it. Whereas Munguia is jabbing and is there to be hit back. Canelo is gone and is a few steps ahead of you already. It’s not even a very affective jab all the time, it’s not like it’s a solid jab, it’s not like it’s a flick but it’s there to move off or set up other things.
Canelo Alvarez and John Ryder engaged in a bloody, 12-round slugfest. (Photo by Hector Vivas/Getty Images)
DEFENSE
Canelo: “Oh, Canelo for sure, you can trade with Munguia all night and there were times I traded off and he got the better of me but he’s there to be hit. Defensively he’s not sound, he’s more take it on the gloves or chin. He’ll eat shots for fun. It’s his volume of punches that he uses of his defense. Very hard to hit [Canelo] clean. He’s perfected it over many years. Probably one of the best lessons for him was fighting [Floyd] Mayweather and taking that on board.”
HAND SPEED
Munguia: “They both have good hand speed, Munguia has a bit more snap in his shots, maybe that’s the youthfulness or Canelo is patient. I’d favor Munguia for hand speed.”
FOOTWORK
Canelo: “Canelo definitely has the best foot work, very calculated, smart moves, steps across. Canelo will put you under pressure without even throwing a shot with his smart movement, his smart footwork.”
SMARTEST
Canelo: “I think Canelo is head and shoulders above there. Not to take anything away from Munguia, he’s still a work in progress but I think over the years Canelo has proved his ring I.Q. by coming from behind against the likes of Amir Khan and many other good fighters.”
STRONGEST
Munguia: “It’s tough but with my nose going early, it was hard for me to sustain anything up close but Canelo wasn’t physically very strong, he could obviously punch hard but I felt like if I could have sat in with him more and moved around, I would have had a lot more success but I obviously wasn’t able to do that. He has that lower center of gravity and uses his reflexes well; he’s very drop and pop with the shots. He’ll slip something to really wind something up and counter with it and when he loads up with a shot you know he’s not missing because of his accuracy and timing. [Munguia] is fairly strong, he’s quite gangly and whirry, he’s not overly strong but he uses it well. I will probably favor Munguia for strength inside.”
POWER
Canelo: “The version of myself that boxed Canelo wasn’t the version that boxed Munguia. The Canelo fight took a lot out of me in the long run. It’s often the fact you’re in there and taking the shots. I think the real concussive power would have to be with Canelo.”
CHIN
“I think that’s Munguia’s problem, you can only take so many shots to the chin before you start losing it and it fails you. In the long run that could be his downfall. At the moment I don’t think I put a dent in Canelo and I don’t think I put a dent in Munguia either. It’s a real 50/50 on the chin.”
SKILLS
Canelo: “The performances that we can go by, it’s Canelo. He adapts to bigger and smaller men, we’ve seen him go through the weights and has superior boxing skills.”
BEST OVERALL
Canelo: “I think it’s Canelo, I’d have to favor him. There’s not any disrespect to Munguia, I think he’s improved massively under Freddie Roach in a short space of time and if he can improve from my fight like he did the Derevyanchenko fight then this could be a really interesting fight. At the moment I’d favor Canelo, he’s been to the well many times before and I think he’s seen the likes of Munguia many times before, whereas Munguia will know he’s in for a tough nights work with Canelo.”
When all is said and done, Ryder believes in the more tried and tested Canelo.
“I think Munguia will have his early successes in the fight, the first three or four rounds, I think he’ll take a nice lead but I think Canelo’s time and patience will take over in the second half of the fight,” he reasoned. “I don’t think Canelo will knock him out but I do think he’ll beat Munguia on points.”
Canelo-Munguia will be broadcast on Amazon Prime Video and on DAZN Pay-Per-View, the event begins at 8 p.m. ET/ 5 p.m. PT.
Questions and/or comments can be sent to Anson at [email protected].