John Ryder (born 19 July 1988) is a British former professional boxer who competed from 2010 to 2024. He held an interim super-middleweight world title twice, and challenged twice for full world titles in that weight class, including the undisputed championship. At regional level, he challenged twice for the British middleweight title and once for the British super-middleweight title.

Amateur career As an amateur, Ryder fought for Angel Amateur Boxing Club in his birthplace of Islington, winning 30 fights out of 35."John Ryder set to go pro" . Boxing News 24. 24 August 2010. Retrieved 18 March 2016.

Professional career Ryder turned professional on 10 September 2010, scoring a first-round technical knockout (TKO) against Ben Deghani. Having won his first fifteen fights, Ryder faced fellow undefeated prospect Billy Joe Saunders for his British and Commonwealth middleweight titles on 21 September 2013, losing a close unanimous decision (UD) with scores of 115–113, 115–113 and 115–114 for Saunders. Ryder won his first regional championship—the vacant WBO Inter-Continental middleweight title—on 11 October 2014, defeating Theophilus Tetteh via fifth-round TKO.Brennan, Rob (29 January 2015). "Islington middleweight John Ryder wants a proper fight at the O2 Arena" . Islington Gazette. Archant. Retrieved 11 August 2015. He defended this title once, against Billi Facundo Godoy with a tenth-round TKO."John Wayne Hibbert and John Ryder earn stoppage victories at the O2 Arena". Sky Sports. Sky. 1 February 2015. Retrieved 11 August 2015.

After Saunders vacated the British middleweight title, a bout was held between top contenders Ryder and Nick Blackwell on 30 May 2015. Ryder was widely ahead on the scorecards when he was stopped on his feet by Blackwell in the seventh round."Nick Blackwell wins British middleweight title with stoppage victory over John Ryder". Sky Sports. Sky. 30 May 2015. Retrieved 11 August 2015. Ryder bounced back on 30 January 2016, winning his second regional championship—the vacant WBA International middleweight title—with a UD over Sergey Khomitsky.

Ryder defended his WBA International middleweight title against Jack Arnfield on 24 September 2016, losing by UD over twelve rounds.

Ryder rebounded in his next fight, defeating Adam Etches by UD to win the IBF International super-middleweight title.

On 22 April 2017, Ryder moved up to super-middleweight to face Rocky Fielding for the British title but lost on a controversial split decision (SD).

On 5 May 2018, Ryder faced domestic rival Jamie Cox at The O2 Arena on the undercard of the rematch between David Haye and Tony Bellew. In a fight that had a grueling start, both fighters were trading punches from close range early. This led to Ryder dropping Cox in the second round. Cox would not be able to beat the referee's count, although by a tiny margin, earning Ryder the KO victory.

In his next fight, Ryder faced undefeated Russian challenger Andrey Sirotkin. Sirotkin gave Ryder problems early in the fight with his jab. By the time the fight came to the sixth round, Ryder looked like he was gaining control of the fight, hurting Sirotkin with a body shot. The punishment continued in the seventh round, culminating in a right hook to Sirotkin's body, from which the Russian would not recover. Ryder was awarded the KO win in the seventh round.

On the Canelo Álvarez vs. Daniel Jacobs card in Las Vegas in May 2019, Ryder beat Bilal Akkawy by TKO in the third round to win the vacant WBA interim super-middleweight title and put himself in line to challenge Callum Smith for the WBA (Super) and Ring magazine super-middleweight titles.

Following the successful defeat of Akkawy, Ryder fought Callum Smith for the super-middleweight titles in November 2019, losing via UD. Ryder managed to keep Smith on the inside for the beginning rounds. In the third round, Smith was able to impose his will, setting up for right hands with his long jab. Ryder managed to get Smith to fight on the inside again in the fifth round. As the fight went on, frequent clinching slowed the pace down. In the last rounds, Smith looked like he was tired, while Ryder was being the aggressor. Smith managed to land a couple of right hands before the final bell, as Ryder was still charging forward. The judges scored the fight 117–111 and 116–112 twice in favour of Smith, with some media outlets describing the scores as "controversial".

Ryder won the vacant WBO interim super-middleweight title on 26 November 2022 when his opponent, Zach Parker, retired at the start of the fifth-round of their contest at The O2 Arena in London citing an injury to his right hand.

He unsuccessfully challenged unified super-middleweight world champion Canelo Álvarez on 6 May 2023, losing by unanimous decision and then suffered a ninth-round stoppage defeat to Jaime Munguia on 27 January 2024. Ryder announced his retirement from boxing in February 2024.

Professional boxing record

ResultRecordOpponentTypeRound, timeDateLocationNotes39Loss32–7Jaime MunguíaTKO9 (12), 27 Jan 202438Loss32–6Canelo ÁlvarezUD126 May 202337Win32–5Zach ParkerRTD5 (12), 26 Nov 202236Win31–5Daniel JacobsSD1212 Feb 202235Win30–5Jozef JurkoTKO5 (10), 10 Sep 202134Win29–5Mike GuyUD1018 Dec 202033Loss28–5Callum SmithUD1223 Nov 201932Win28–4Bilal AkkawyTKO3 (12), 4 May 201931Win27–4Andrey SirotkinKO7 (12), 27 Oct 201830Win26–4Jamie CoxKO2 (12), 5 May 201829Win25–4Patrick Nielsen5 (10), 14 Oct 201728Loss24–4Rocky Fielding1222 Apr 201727Win24–3Adam EtchesUD124 Feb 201726Loss23–3Jack ArnfieldUD1224 Sep 201625Win23–2Robert TalarekPTS628 May 201624Win22–2Sergey KhomitskyUD1230 Jan 201623Win21–2Adam JonesPTS610 Oct 201522Loss20–2Nick BlackwellTKO7 (12), 30 May 201521Win20–1Billi Facundo GodoyTKO10 (12), 31 Jan 201520Win19–1Theophilus TettehTKO5 (10), 11 Oct 201419Win18–1Ruslans PojonisevsPTS619 Jul 201418Win17–1Jez WilsonTKO9 (10), 5 Apr 201417Win16–1Giorgi KandelakiPTS615 Mar 201416Loss15–1Billy Joe Saunders1221 Sep 201315Win15–0Yoann BloyerTKO2 (6), 13 Jul 201314Win14–0Farai MusiyiwaPTS89 Mar 201313Win13–0Eamonn O'KaneTKO8 (10), 8 Dec 201212Win12–0Sandor MicskoTKO2 (8), 8 Sep 201211Win11–0Luke RobinsonPTS826 May 201210Win10–0Alistair WarrenPTS817 Mar 20129Win9–0Mariusz BiskupskiTKO2 (8), 28 Jan 20128Win8–0Zoran CvekTKO3 (10), 3 Dec 20117Win7–0Luke OsmanTKO2 (6), 9 Nov 20116Win6–0Danny BrownTKO1 (4), 8 Oct 20115Win5–0Lee NoblePTS630 Apr 20114Win4–0Dalton Miller2 (4), 26 Mar 20113Win3–0Lewis Byrne419 Feb 20112Win2–0Sabie Montieth1 (4), 4 Dec 20101Win1–0Ben Deghani1 (4), 10 Sep 2010

References

External links

John Ryder profile at Matchroom Boxing John Ryder - Profile, News Archive & Current Rankings at Box.Live