# John Ryder (boxer)

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.

## 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. He defended this title once, against Billi Facundo Godoy with a tenth-round TKO.
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. 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

| 39 fights | 32 wins | 7 losses |
| By knockout | 18 | 2 |
| By decision | 13 | 5 |
| By disqualification | 1 | 0 |
| No. | Result | Record | Opponent | Type | Round, time | Date | Location | Notes |
| 39 | Loss | 32–7 | Jaime Munguía | TKO | 9 (12), 1:25 | 27 Jan 2024 | Footprint Center, Phoenix, Arizona, U.S. | For WBC Silver super-middleweight title |
| 38 | Loss | 32–6 | Canelo Álvarez | UD | 12 | 6 May 2023 | Estadio Akron, Zapopan, Mexico | For WBA (Super), WBC, IBF, WBO, and The Ring super-middleweight titles |
| 37 | Win | 32–5 | Zach Parker | RTD | 5 (12), 0:01 | 26 Nov 2022 | The O2 Arena, London, England | Won vacant WBO interim super-middleweight title |
| 36 | Win | 31–5 | Daniel Jacobs | SD | 12 | 12 Feb 2022 | Alexandra Palace, London, England | |
| 35 | Win | 30–5 | Jozef Jurko | TKO | 5 (10), 2:33 | 10 Sep 2021 | Wörthersee Stadion, Klagenfurt, Austria | |
| 34 | Win | 29–5 | Mike Guy | UD | 10 | 18 Dec 2020 | Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, Hollywood, Florida, US | |
| 33 | Loss | 28–5 | Callum Smith | UD | 12 | 23 Nov 2019 | M&S Bank Arena, Liverpool, England | For WBA (Super) and The Ring super-middleweight titles |
| 32 | Win | 28–4 | Bilal Akkawy | TKO | 3 (12), 2:12 | 4 May 2019 | T-Mobile Arena, Paradise, Nevada, US | Won vacant WBA interim super-middleweight title |
| 31 | Win | 27–4 | Andrey Sirotkin | KO | 7 (12), 2:54 | 27 Oct 2018 | Copper Box Arena, London, England | |
| 30 | Win | 26–4 | Jamie Cox | KO | 2 (12), 0:50 | 5 May 2018 | The O2 Arena, London, England | |
| 29 | Win | 25–4 | Patrick Nielsen | KO | 5 (10), 3:00 | 14 Oct 2017 | The SSE Arena Wembley, London, England | |
| 28 | Loss | 24–4 | Rocky Fielding | SD | 12 | 22 Apr 2017 | Echo Arena, Liverpool, England | For vacant British super-middleweight title |
| 27 | Win | 24–3 | Adam Etches | UD | 12 | 4 Feb 2017 | London Olympia, London, England | Won vacant IBF International super-middleweight title |
| 26 | Loss | 23–3 | Jack Arnfield | UD | 12 | 24 Sep 2016 | Manchester Arena, Manchester, England | Lost WBA International middleweight title |
| 25 | Win | 23–2 | Robert Talarek | PTS | 6 | 28 May 2016 | The SSE Hydro, Glasgow, Scotland | |
| 24 | Win | 22–2 | Sergey Khomitsky | UD | 12 | 30 Jan 2016 | Copper Box Arena, London, England | Won vacant WBA International middleweight title |
| 23 | Win | 21–2 | Adam Jones | PTS | 6 | 10 Oct 2015 | York Hall, London, England | |
| 22 | Loss | 20–2 | Nick Blackwell | TKO | 7 (12), 2:36 | 30 May 2015 | The O2 Arena, London, England | For vacant British middleweight title |
| 21 | Win | 20–1 | Billi Facundo Godoy | TKO | 10 (12), 1:52 | 31 Jan 2015 | The O2 Arena, London, England | Retained WBO Inter-Continental middleweight title |
| 20 | Win | 19–1 | Theophilus Tetteh | TKO | 5 (10), 2:56 | 11 Oct 2014 | The O2 Arena, London, England | Won vacant WBO Inter-Continental middleweight title |
| 19 | Win | 18–1 | Ruslans Pojonisevs | PTS | 6 | 19 Jul 2014 | Camden Centre, London, England | |
| 18 | Win | 17–1 | Jez Wilson | TKO | 9 (10), 1:09 | 5 Apr 2014 | York Hall, London, England | |
| 17 | Win | 16–1 | Giorgi Kandelaki | PTS | 6 | 15 Mar 2014 | Echo Arena, Liverpool, England | |
| 16 | Loss | 15–1 | Billy Joe Saunders | UD | 12 | 21 Sep 2013 | Copper Box Arena, London, England | For British and Commonwealth middleweight titles |
| 15 | Win | 15–0 | Yoann Bloyer | TKO | 2 (6), 0:45 | 13 Jul 2013 | Craven Park, Hull, England | |
| 14 | Win | 14–0 | Farai Musiyiwa | PTS | 8 | 9 Mar 2013 | Wembley Arena, London, England | |
| 13 | Win | 13–0 | Eamonn O'Kane | TKO | 8 (10), 1:33 | 8 Dec 2012 | London Olympia, London, England | |
| 12 | Win | 12–0 | Sandor Micsko | TKO | 2 (8), 2:52 | 8 Sep 2012 | Alexandra Palace, London, England | |
| 11 | Win | 11–0 | Luke Robinson | PTS | 8 | 26 May 2012 | Nottingham Arena, Nottingham, England | |
| 10 | Win | 10–0 | Alistair Warren | PTS | 8 | 17 Mar 2012 | Motorpoint Arena, Sheffield, England | |
| 9 | Win | 9–0 | Mariusz Biskupski | TKO | 2 (8), 2:21 | 28 Jan 2012 | York Hall, London, England | |
| 8 | Win | 8–0 | Zoran Cvek | TKO | 3 (10), 2:49 | 3 Dec 2011 | Prince Regent Hotel, Chigwell, England | |
| 7 | Win | 7–0 | Luke Osman | TKO | 2 (6), 2:13 | 9 Nov 2011 | York Hall, London, England | |
| 6 | Win | 6–0 | Danny Brown | TKO | 1 (4), 0:37 | 8 Oct 2011 | York Hall, London, England | |
| 5 | Win | 5–0 | Lee Noble | PTS | 6 | 30 Apr 2011 | London Olympia, London, England | |
| 4 | Win | 4–0 | Dalton Miller | RTD | 2 (4), 3:00 | 26 Mar 2011 | City Limits Pavilion, London, England | |
| 3 | Win | 3–0 | Lewis Byrne | PTS | 4 | 19 Feb 2011 | Wembley Arena, London, England | |
| 2 | Win | 2–0 | Sabie Montieth | DQ | 1 (4), 1:00 | 4 Dec 2010 | York Hall, London, England | Montieth disqualified for headbutting |
| 1 | Win | 1–0 | Ben Deghani | TKO | 1 (4), 1:30 | 10 Sep 2010 | York Hall, London, England | |