On Wednesday morning John Ryder released a statement on social media announcing his retirement from boxing. So I thought we’d look back at his incredible career.
On Wednesday morning John Ryder released this statement on social media announcing his retirement from boxing at the age of 35.
THANKYOU! ITS BEEN A BEEN A HELL OF A RYD! 🦍 pic.twitter.com/CfxtGV0LKb
— john ryder (@_John_Ryder_) February 6, 2024
After an impressive amateur career with a record of 30–5 that saw him win two ABA titles John made his professional debut on the 10th of September 2010 against Ben Dengani where he scored a first round knockout. He then went on to win his next 15 fights which set up one of the biggest domestic fights at the time between him and Billy, Joe Saunders for the British and Commonwealth titles
Despite losing a unanimous decision, it was a very close fight and to this day. Some people still argue that John Ryder won that fight. I’m not sure if I agree with that but I can see where they’re coming from.
Despite this setback he came back strong, going on a three fight unbeaten run which earned him a shot at the WBO Inter-Continental championship that he took with both hands, scoring a fifth round knockout to win the title.
He would go on to defend the WBO Inter-Continental championship before getting another shot, at the then vacant British Middleweight title. Unfortunately, he came up short once again, been stopped by Nick Blackwell in the seventh round.
Despite falling short again, John picked himself up and went on to win his next two fights, both of them on points which gave him the opportunity to fight Jack Arnfield a fight he lost by unanimous decision 114-117, 110-118 and 114-115
With another loss on his record, people was starting to ask questions, whether he would ever reach his full potential, but after the loss John made the decision to move up to Super Middleweight. A decision that seem to pay dividends straightaway, as on his debut at this new weight he secured a unanimous decision win over Adam Etches
The win over Etches gave him the opportunity to once again fight for a British title this time at his new weight of Super Middleweight on the 22nd of May 2017, He took on Rocky Fielding. Unfortunately for John Ryder, he once again came up short, losing the fight by unanimous decision, and quite frankly, being out boxed for large parts of it. The judges saw it 115-114, 113-116 and 114-115.
After the loss to Rocky Fielding John Ryder was forced once again to go back to the drawing board. He came back winning his next four fights all of them by knockout. He also made his American debut during this period. This gave him his biggest opportunity yet a chance to fight for both the WBA Middleweight world title and the WBC Diamond Middleweight championship. In a domestic clash with Callum Smith probably one of the fights of the year in 2019 ultimately for John Ryder, the decision did not go his way.
After the loss to Callum Smith, many people thought John Ryder should’ve hung up the gloves then myself included, but he continue to fight, picking up four wins in a row two of them by knockout this once again put him back in the world title picture after he picked up a victory over Zach Parker to win the WBO interim world title.
The victory over Parker gave him quite possibly the biggest fight of his life as he got the opportunity to take on Cano Alvarez for the unified world Super Middleweight title Not many people gave him a chance going into the fight, but to his credit he was able to go all twelve rounds but ultimately it was a losing effort, he lost virtually every round on the judges’ cards 107-120 and 109-118 on the other two.
Ryder walked to the ring for the final time of the 27th of January. Unfortunately he got absolutely destroyed by undefeated Jaime Munguia been stopped in the 9th round and was put down multiple times during the fight.
So The big question is now how will John Ryder be remembered in British boxing history to me, he will always be a warrior who never back down from a fight I think it’s fair to say that he was never in a boring fight in his whole career. However on the other hand you could also say that he was boxing’s, nearly man or always the bridesmaid, never the bride, because, despite multiple opportunities, he never won major domestic championships or any world honours. However, you can see it is still an incredible Career with a final record of 32–7 with 18 knockouts.
As always, I’d love to hear what you guys think. Did John Ryder make the right decision? What should he be remembered for?