Eddie Hearn reveals discussions are underway for Canelo Alvarez's next title defense

Canelo Alvarez’s promoter Eddie Hearn said that negotiations for a fight with WBO mandatory challenger John Ryder are ongoing.

The Matchroom Sports chairman spoke of the fight in his weekly segment titled “Hearn Unleashed” as part of the DAZN Boxing Show. When asked if John Ryder is the next fight for Alvarez, here’s what he had to say:

“Yeah that’s the plan, speaking to Eddie Reynoso and the team over the last couple of days. We’re negotiating that fight at the moment. Obviously Canelo’s got options, it doesn’t need to be John Ryder, but he is a mandatory and we’re trying to negotiate a deal with Canelo Alvarez, we’re trying to agreeing a deal with John Ryder. We’d like to see the fight take place internationally. UK, Middle East, U.S, Mexico”

John Ryder became a mandatory challenger to Canelo’s WBO super middleweight title after he won the interim title against Zach Parker. The fight between the Mexican champion and the British challenger will be to unify the WBO Super middleweight title.

Canelo Alvarez’s last title defense was against Gennadiy Golovkin in September of 2022 where the Guadalajara-born fighter won by Unanimous Decision to retain his title at super middleweight, this will be his first fight and title defense of 2023.

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How did John Ryder become a mandatory challenger for Canelo Alvarez?

In professional boxing, a mandatory challenger is an opponent whom a champion must either fight or be made to vacate their title as champion. Some examples of mandatory challengers in recent times include Dillian Whyte, who was mandated by the WBC to face Tyson Fury after he won the interim WBC heavyweight title after beating Robert Helenius in 2017.

Boxing in London - Zach Parker v John Ryder

John Ryder became Alvarez’s mandatory challenger by defeating Zach Parker to acquire the WBO super middleweight title, after which he was mandated to face the Mexican boxer by the WBO. “The Gorilla” is currently on a 4-fight win streak, defeating the likes of Mike Guy, Jozef Jurko, Daniel Jacobs and Zach Parker in succession.

After a unanimous decision loss to Callum Smith in 2019 for the WBA middleweight and WBC Diamond middleweight titles, this will be the Brit’s next title fight should it be made for 2023.