Eddie Hearn anticipates a more confident John Ryder entering the ring Saturday night for his fight against Jaime Munguia.

Ryder’s promoter noticed that the understated southpaw gained confidence during the second half of the biggest fight of his career 8½ months ago. Once London’s Ryder regained his senses after Canelo Alvarez knocked him down during the fifth round, the huge underdog performed admirably against boxing’s undisputed super middleweight champion May 6 at Akron Stadium in Zapopan, Mexico.

The 35-year-old Ryder undoubtedly lost to Alvarez, but he won over detractors that doubted he could even compete with one of the best fighters, pound-for-pound, in the sport.

Munguia, 27, is undefeated and six years younger than Alvarez. The Tijuana native isn’t nearly as accomplished nor as formidable as Alvarez, however, which encouraged Hearn to predict that the fighter his company promotes will pull off an upset on foreign soil at Footprint Center in Phoenix.

“I really believe he beats Jaime Munguia, who is all action, so exciting,” Hearn stated during an interview released recently on Matchroom Boxing’s YouTube channel. “But that’s a massive fight for Johnny, you know, coming off the Canelo fight, which he did so well in. You know, once he got his confidence in that fight, he started to really perform down the stretch and he’ll go into this fight with a lotta confidence.”

Win, lose or draw, it has been gratifying for Hearn to watch the respectful, well-liked Ryder (32-6, 18 KOs) make the kind of money during the twilight of his career that he has earned in high-profile fights against Alvarez (60-2-2, 39 KOs), Munguia (42-0, 33 KOs) and Daniel Jacobs (37-4, 30 KOs), the former IBF/WBA middleweight champion Ryder edged on the scorecards to win a 12-round split decision in February 2022 at Alexandra Palace in London.

“I’m just so pleased Johnny Ryder’s getting what he deserves out of the sport,” Hearn said. “You know, another big payday for him, but more importantly, an opportunity. He wins [the Munguia] fight, you know, you can imagine the fights he could be in. [David] Benavidez, you know, Caleb Plant, [Jermall] Charlo, [Edgar] Berlanga. Like this is just a massive night for him. And, you know, the team [is] very confident.”

Most handicappers have installed Munguia as more than a 3-1 favorite to defeat Ryder in a 12-round main event DAZN will stream from the home arena of the NBA’s Phoenix Suns.

DAZN’s main undercard coverage is set to start at 8 p.m. ET (5 p.m. PT). Puerto Rican southpaw Oscar Collazo (8-0, 6 KOs) is scheduled to defend his WBO mini-flyweight title against 10th-ranked Nicaraguan challenger Reyneris Gutierrez (10-1, 2 KOs) in the 12-round co-feature before Munguia meets Ryder in the main event.

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.