Via Barry Holbrook: John Ryder (32-6, 18 KOs) revealed after his defeat to 4-belt super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez (59-2-2, 39 KOs) that he broke his nose early in the competition and he could not breathe during the fight on Saturday night in Guadalajara, Mexico.
Ryder said that Canelo fought him with a headbutt as he leaned forward in the third round. He said he didn’t see the punch coming because he was concentrating on the initial stab and wasn’t prepared for the backhand that caught him perfectly.
Ryder’s nose caused him so many problems that he couldn’t sit between rounds because he couldn’t breathe, so he had to stand.
He lost to Canelo in 12 deciding rounds with scores 120-107, 118-109 and 118-109.
“After all these years of boxing, this is the first time I have broken my nose,” John Ryder told Boxing room after losing to Canelo Alvarez on Saturday night.
“It was a new experience. Back in my corner, a towel on my face, unable to breathe. There was blood running down my throat. After that, it was hard to sit down and breathe. So I stood up during the rounds.
“I feel like I won the first two rounds pretty well. I boxed reasonably. I was just careless at the last second, leaning forward and getting caught by a headbutt.
“I saw the stab, but I didn’t see the backhand coming,” Ryder said of how he broke his nose. “It was also the first time I was disappointed. It was a newly acquired experience.
“I came here in Mexico. It was great to be a part of this event. It’s not a definite end. It’s funny when I get knocked down. I thought, ‘All the Nigel Benn fights I’ve seen in years.’ I thought, ‘How will Nigel Benn come back?’ He will come back and shed tears.
“I thought, ‘You’re not going out like that. You will be back. Do what Nigel Benn does.’ Obviously I didn’t because I was going to get him out of there.
“I had some good conversations after that, but obviously it was very difficult to get my breath back. I just felt like I threw punches that were out of breath so many times.
“I always thought he was very good. He’s so good, he sets traps,” Ryder said of Canelo. “Even if you think you are succeeding, which I achieved in the first few rounds, you can see that he is downloading information to insert into later rounds and set traps,” says Ryder.
