LAST night’s defeat to Jaime Munguia could have been the final fight in the career of John Ryder according to his promoter Eddie Hearn.
At the Footprint Centre in Phoenix, Arizona a largely pro-Munguia crowd witnessed the Mexican, 43-0 (34) overpower the Brit with a ninth-round stoppage victory which included four knockdowns. The last person to stop Ryder, 32-7 (18), was Nick Blackwell in May 2015 when he caused an upset by winning the British middleweight title halting Ryder in the seventh session. Back then Munguia’s career was still in its infancy and despite having had more fights than Ryder he looked the fresher man last night.
In his last four outings Ryder has fought the calibre of Daniel Jacobs, Zach Parker, Canelo Alvarez and Munguia winning the first two and losing the latter two. The manner of yesterday’s loss was perhaps evidence that Ryder’s punch resistance may now be failing.
Speaking at the post-fight press conference Hearn gave his thoughts on whether Ryder’s 39-fight, 14-year career is now at an end.
“It’s always difficult straight after a fight but having reached the heights he’s reached, particularly the Canelo Alvarez fight and the Jaime Munguia fight I think there is a chance that could be the end of the road for him,” Hearn said.
“We really believed he could win tonight. He believed he could as well. The start was a bit of a nightmare. The fourth round wasn’t really a knockdown, but you had to score it a knockdown and obviously having two knockdowns in the first four rounds was very difficult for him. Beaten by the younger fresher man so a decision to make for sure.”