Arsenal fan John Ryder wants Canelo Alvarez fight at Emirates Stadium | OneFootball

John Ryder has made his case to fight Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez next year.

The WBO interim super-middleweight champion is hoping the can take place at the Emirates Stadium, home of his beloved Arsenal.

Ryder’s promoter Eddie Hearn recently expressed interest in trying to set up a fight with Canelo Alvarez in the first half of 2023.

And after picking up a win over Zach Parker last weekend, the 34-year-old revealed he fancies a crack at the Mexican.

“I want the Canelo fight in May and I want the rematch in September,” Ryder exclusively told GIVEMESPORT.com. “I’d love to fight him at the Emirates.

“I think the last fight at Highbury was Muhammad Ali versus Henry Cooper. That was the old stadium at Highbury. To be the first to headline at the Emirates would be something else.

“Cinco de Mayo is a special weekend for boxing. Not only for Mexican boxers, Mayweather made a career fighting on Cinco de Mayo weekend. So listen, I’d love to be the top of the bill for it.”

Former pound-for-pound king Canelo, whose nickname translates to ‘Cinnamon’ in English, has suffered a recent dip in form – having not fulfilled his promise of a knockout in his trilogy fight against Gennady Golovkin, who turned 40 in April earlier this year.

But Ryder insists that he isn’t reading too much into it.

He added: “It wasn’t vintage but listen he said about the injury going into it and whatnot.

“Obviously maybe that played a part in the Bivol fight. But I take it back to when he fought Kovalev. He said that Kovalev was probably a bit too big and he’s gone back there to try and win another world title at 175 and I think Bivol showed he was probably too big and had too many ideas.

“But take nothing away from Canelo, he said he had the injury and he’s worked on that and he’s had the surgery. So listen, he said he’s going to come back down, and he’s either going to be vintage Canelo or he’s going to show signs of decline.”

Another option at super-middleweight could be another Hispanic clash against Jaime Munguia.

And just as Ryder is prepared to challenge the undefeated Munguia, he is also willing to take on Top Rank Edgar Berlanga.

He continued: “Obviously the Canelo fight is the dream fight moving forward, wherever it may take place.

“But there are other big fights out there for me. You’ve got David Benavidez fighting Caleb Plant for another eliminator for the WBC interim title.

“I think the Parker fight was more of a calculated risk. I had other fights offered to me, the Munguia fight, the Berlanga fight. Obviously Berlanga is still out, I think he’s banned until mid December, but the Munguia fight is a great fight that really got the juices flowing.

“Regardless of if the Canelo fight happens next, there’s still big fights to be had.”

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