Canelo Alvarez to defend title against John Ryder in first Mexico fight since 2011

Canelo Alvarez is scheduled to defend his undisputed super middleweight championship on May 6 against interim WBO champion John Ryder in his native Guadalajara, Mexico. The fight will mark Alvarez' first match there since stopping Ryan Rhodes. Five months later, he defeated Kermit Cintrón on Nov. 26, 2011, in Mexico City.

The fight is set to be a highlight of the weekend’s Cinco de Mayo celebration.

Last month, ESPN reported the fight would occur in Jalisco, Mexico, on May 6. At at the time, WBO president Francisco "Paco" Valcarcel told Yahoo Sports that Alvarez would indeed fight Ryder next, but said he was uncertain of the date or the venue.

Now, the stage is set and Alvarez appears to have all of the advantage. At 58-2-2 with 39 knockouts, he will be fighting for the first time since his victory by unanimous decision in the final match of his storied trilogy with Gennadiy Golovkin last September in Las Vegas. Shortly after, Alvarez underwent surgery on his left wrist in October.

This fight also comes a year after Alvarez was upset by Dmitry Bivol in a light heavyweight title bout in May. Ryder, the 34-year-old British boxer and mandatory WBO challenger will look to accomplish a similar feat, as he is the underdog in this matchup. Ryder (32-5, 18 KOs) took to Twitter after the announcement.

"I worked for this, I’ve earned it and come may 6th I will not waste this opportunity to become undisputed," he wrote.

He won the interim WBO belt when he defeated Zach Parker at the O2 Arena in London in November. Parker sustained a broken right hand which prevented him from finishing the fight and secured Ryder the win. Ryder previously held the WBA interim super middleweight title in 2019.

If Alvarez, 32, defeats Ryder, he'll face Bivol for a rematch in September, only this time the two would clash at super middleweight.