John Ryder is Looking To Make Noise at Middleweight

By Shaun Brown

John Ryder is looking for more of the same in 2012. After six of his eight professional fights, to date, took place last year the Islington fighter is beginning to make some noise in the British middleweight division.

However the 23-year old is wary of the pitfalls should his career be hurried along.

“I’d rather do things the traditional way,” Ryder said when speaking about the term “fast-tracked.”

“I don’t want to look back in so many years times saying I should’ve done this or that. I want to be brought along at the right pace. There’s no big rush. Some people get the world title shot too soon, get beat and then not really do anything else. They might keep fighting for world titles but they keep getting beat and become used to defeat. I’m happy to be brought along slowly.”

With a raucous following, a fan friendly style plus the backing of Eddie Hearn and Matchroom Sports, Ryder certainly has reason to be excited about the future. Ahead of his ninth outing this Saturday against Matteo Rossi (on the Carl Frampton-Kris Hughes undercard to be televised on Sky Sports) he decided to look back at his progress to date by discussing some of his opponents he’s faced and the bumps and bruises along the way.

10th Sept 2010 - Professional Debut vs. Ben Deghani - Ryder won by TKO in Round 1

“I remember just being absolutely bubbling beforehand. It was all a bit of a blur really, but I do remember feeling half naked without all the headgear and that! It was over pretty quickly, I remember getting caught on the top of the head with an elbow and that made me realise how different it was from the amateurs.”

4th Dec 2010 – 2nd fight vs. Sabie Monteith – Monteith was DQ’d in Round 1 for head-butting

“That was a big wake up call for me. I got head-butted three times, got a cut eye and had four stitches. It was a big learning curve for me. It dented my confidence a bit, it was a bit demoralising I suppose being in a fight and having someone do that to you. I knew that’s what boxing was all about but I kept at it.”

19th Feb 2011 – 3rd fight vs. Louis Byrne – Ryder won on points after 4x3s.

“That was at Wembley Arena on the undercard of (Lenny) Daws v (Ashley) Theophane. It was a great night and a dream come true to box at Wembley Arena. My first points win too. It was good to get four rounds out the way, so yeah I was pleased with it.”

30h Apr 2011 – 5th fight vs. Lee Noble – Ryder won on points after 6x3s.

“I think I did alright. I was fit enough to go every one of the six rounds which was fought at a good pace. I don’t think Lee’s got the record that he deserves. He’s got a lot of losses on his record, half the time he doesn’t really try but when he does he gives it his all.”

8th Oct 2011 – 6th fight vs. Danny Brown – Ryder won by TKO in Round 1

“It was over in the first ten seconds which didn’t give me back too much from what I’d done in the gym. I trained out in Canada for it with Darren Barker. I threw the shot at Brown, but not with the intentions of knocking the guy out but you can’t always plan for what is and what isn’t going to happen.”

3rd Dec 2011 – 8th fight vs. Zoran Cvek – Ryder won by TKO in Round 3

“I knew I could do the ten rounds for that fight. Or go twelve or even fifteen if I had to. It was good to train for a ten-rounder and actually get a few rounds in during the fight. He was a good fighter the Croatian. He was a tough little nut but I got the win in the end and that’s all that matters.”

If the wins continue to mount up over the next 12 months, so will the amount of talk regarding him and Billy Joe Saunders 12-0 (8) facing off in a battle of the young guns at 160lbs. A rivalry is brewing between the two but at the moment it’s still in its infancy. Ryder did allow himself a sneak peak into the future to speak about that possible showdown.

“We’ve both still got a lot to prove but maybe in another 12-18 months it can happen and it would be a huge fight for British boxing. I don’t get involved too much in it all. It is a potential rivalry in the division but rivalries make boxing. I’m sure at some point me and Billy will fight but at the moment I don’t think it’s a big enough fight. The timing’s got to be right but the rewards have got to be right as well.”

When speaking of rewards I asked him if he’d allowed himself the chance to splash out on anything a little ostentatious.

“I bought a Playstation 3!” Ryder laughed. “But I’m not going mad at the moment with it all. I’ve got my feet on the ground. It’s my job to make sure I don’t get carried away. At the end of the day I get punched for a living.”

I couldn’t have put it better myself.

Twitter @shaun_brown