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JOHN RYDER HAS revealed the horrors he faced in his pursuit of success as a fighter before finally renewing his career as a super middleweight.
Ryder takes on Zach Parker for the WBO interim world title at the O2 on November 26 in a highly anticipated fight at home, live on BT Sport, with the winner facing Canelo Alvarez for the full title or to be promoted to champion.
Currently the picture of health and happiness, Ryder is preparing himself to go to war with the unbeaten man Queensberry Parker, but it is a different story at middleweight, where the main fight is on the scale.
It was in his 2015 British title challenge against Nick Blackwell that Ryder first realized that weighing up to 160lbs was taking a toll on his fortunes.
Ryder revealed to Dev Sahni in an interesting episode of Unibet Lowdown. “I can’t sit in a sauna even with full water, it’s not my cup of tea, so I’m just working hard to gain weight, jumping, running… Moving up to super middleweight is the best thing I’ve ever done.
“The Nick Blackwell fight was the first one where I really struggled. I was in America and I had a bit of jetlag and maybe I wasn’t good enough to tell Tony (trainer, Sims) about training a little bit later. I paid for it.”
Ryder continued to share the strange ideas that crossed his mind during a domestic collision, this time with Jack Arnfield in 2016.
“I had another blast at middleweight against Jack Arnfield and he just got the better of me. In that Arnfield fight I was thinking ‘please God just get me out of my rut’. I want him to knock me out because there’s no way I will stop.
“I want to be slapped and punched, pulled out of my pocket and look for something else to do.” I no longer fight inside of me.
“I trained like an animal and always trained hard. I’ve always been fit but getting down to this weight just took something out of me. He is not here and 24 hours is not enough to come back.
“Maybe people think I’m a little sad to say all this, but it’s hard. You’re in a fight and nothing’s working for you, nothing’s coming out and you’re being taken. You’re thinking ‘another four rounds.’ of this… I won’t stop, please take me out of my misery’.
“Moving to 168lbs took the pressure off and I enjoyed the camps without worrying about that last bit. Before I only trained to make weight, not even to get fit.”
Tickets for Zach Parker vs John Ryder for the WBO Interim Super-Middleweight Championship on November 26 at The O2 are on sale now, available from axs.com.
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