John Ryder (born 19 July 1988) is a British former professional boxer who competed from 2010 to 2024. He held an interimsuper-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 Britishmiddleweight 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.[2]
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.[3] Ryder won his first regional championship—the vacant WBO Inter-Continental middleweight title—on 11 October 2014, defeating Theophilus Tetteh via fifth-round TKO.[4] He defended this title once, against Billi Facundo Godoy with a tenth-round TKO.[5]
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.[6] Ryder bounced back on 30 January 2016, winning his second regional championship—the vacant WBA International middleweight title—with a UD over Sergey Khomitsky.[7]
Ryder defended his WBA International middleweight title against Jack Arnfield on 24 September 2016, losing by UD over twelve rounds.[8]
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).[10]
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.[11]
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.[12]
Following the successful defeat of Akkawy, Ryder fought Callum Smith for the super-middleweight titles in November 2019, losing via UD.[14] 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".[15][16][17][18]
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.[19]
He unsuccessfully challenged unified super-middleweight world champion Canelo Álvarez on 6 May 2023, losing by unanimous decision[20] and then suffered a ninth-round stoppage defeat to Jaime Munguia on 27 January 2024.[21] Ryder announced his retirement from boxing in February 2024.[22]
