John Ryder returned to the ring Friday night for the first time since his controversial loss to Callum Smith a year ago.
Ryder defeated Mike Guy easily in their 10-rounder, but this performance wasn’t nearly as memorable as when the British southpaw fought Smith. All three judges scored their utterly forgettable fight for Ryder on the Gennadiy Golovkin-Kamil Szeremeta undercard at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida.
Judges Alex Levin (100-90), Mike Ross (99-91) and John Rupert (96-94) favored the busier, better Ryder, a London native who truly tested Smith in their 12-round fight for Smith’s WBA “super” 168-pound title last November 30 in Liverpool, England.
Ryder, 32, improved to 29-5. The 39-year-old Guy, of Sacramento, California, slipped to 12-6-1 after losing a second straight 10-round decision.
Guy caught Ryder with a straight right hand just before the 10th and final round ended. It was one of the few clean punches Guy landed during their entire bout.
Guy continued to move around in the ninth round and didn’t throw many punches.
Ryder drilled Guy with a left uppercut late in the eighth round. He followed up several seconds later with a hard right hand that rocked him.
Guy caught Ryder with a right hand early in the seventh round. A right hook by Ryder made Guy reset his feet late in the sixth round.
Ryder nailed Guy with a stiff jab in the fifth round, one of the few flush punches that connected during those three minutes. Ryder spent the third and fourth rounds pursuing Guy, who was reluctant to engage in either of those rounds.
Ryder’s right hook knocked Guy off balance with a right hook 45 seconds into the second round.
Guy’s straight right with about 35 seconds to go was the only consequential punch of the first round.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.