Santos Saúl Álvarez Barragán vs. John Ryder

Journalists and everybody on the podium answering questions (including Canelo himself and somebody from his team) speaking in machine-gun Spanish with no translation between them. I can make out every 5th word, maybe. Demasiado rapido por me.

 

A bit disappointing, as it was always fairly obvious Ryder was getting this date (and I like him and certainly don't begrudge the Gorilla the long-deserved big payday) but in my opinion Shishkin (the number two choice behind Ryder) had the better chance of dethroning Canelo.

 

Finally a question in English (albeit nearly too heavily accented to understand) addressed to Ryder. A very convoluted and overly complicated one, at that. He is asked what he thinks about being one more notch on Canelo's bedpost among his British victims, and taking short money for this and being part of such a big event as Canelo's return to Mexico for the first time in over a decade.

John has to wait as the question is translated into Spanish before he's permitted to answer.

He cracks "well thank you, I was beginning to feel a bit left out". He says that everything in boxing is about timing and right now is the right time for this.

Fast Car Eddie says that Canelo's last few bouts were in Vegas, but the best fights IHO are stadium fights. He says this will be the biggest atmosphere yet, more than Alamodome, Miami, Cowboys Stadium etc. He commends Álvarez for wanting to deliver this for his people.

 

Side by side, John looks quite a bit bigger than Saúl. No great surprise that he's taller with a thicker frame, but his head, neck and limbs look considerably beefier as well, even through clothing.

Not a very ferocious face-off, they both look bored and ready to be done with this. Ryder gets to go leak the lizard or whatever he needs to do but Álvarez is obliged to pause onstage for a photo-op holding all of his title belts.

 

Moneyline:

Álvarez -1000, Ryder +600

 

Beterbiev first has to exchange pleasantries with Jean Pascal (unless Michael Eifert does something remarkable)

 

He's fighting in 48 hours:

https://www.boxingforum24.com/threads/jean-thenistor-pascal-vs-michael-eifert.700590/

IBF eliminator for Beterbiev's mandatory.