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The Fight Team
May 05, 2023
Welcome to this week’s edition of The Fight With Teddy Atlas Newsletter, your one stop shop for all things combat sports related, brought to you by Teddy and The Fight team.
Every Friday We Bring You:
A combat sports news digest with all the headlines you need to know from Boxing and Mixed Martial Arts.
Highlights from the podcast and across the fight world.
Fight times and information you need to know ahead of time.
How to’s and tips for Boxing from Teddy himself.
Fight News From Around The 🌍
Canelo Comes Home
On Saturday Saul “Canelo” Alvarez will return to fight in Mexico for the first time in 11 years to defend his undisputed super middleweight title against the British challenger John “The Gorilla” Ryder.
Following Gervonta Davis’s performance in the blockbuster fight against Ryan Garcia, Canelo will be out to prove that he’s very much still the face of boxing in 2023, entering the 17th year of his professional career.
Against a sold out crowd in his hometown of Guadalajara, he’ll be keen to get back to the levels that saw him run through the entire 168 lbs division’s champions in less than a year.
Ryder is not to be overlooked though, and his camp have been in an extremely confident mood all throughout fight week. Not only is he coming off a career best win against mutual opponent Danny Jacobs, but back in 2019 he was unlucky to not come away with a decision against then WBA titleholder and former Canelo opponent Callum Smith.
Despite his 4 career losses (all at middleweight), he firmly believes he belongs at this level and will be the one to inflict Canelo’s second defeat of the last 12 months, following his loss to Dmitry Bivol.
Canelo, with the Jalisco crowd behind him and his eye on avenging the aforementioned loss at some point soon, could however prove to be a stretch too much for the brave British challenger.
It’s sure to be much more competitive than many of expecting, and we hope that the return of one of boxings pound for pound mainstays gives us some fireworks on Saturday night.
What to look for in the fight:
Inside work. Ryder and Canelo are of quite similar builds, and with Ryder’s main strength lying in his inside game, expect him to come to Canelo and make him work inside. Keep an eye out for Canelo’s signature left hook here against the southpaw Ryder.
Stamina. Canelo’s gas tank has looked more suspect in his last couple of fights than at any point previously in his career. Against a fighter who improves down the stretch like Ryder, this could make things interesting if the Brit is still standing after 8/9 rounds.
Odds (via MyBookie.AG)
Triple C Looks To Make History
UFC 288 lands this Saturday, with a brilliant fight between bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling and Henry Cejudo serving as the main event at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ.
Aljamain Sterlings path to UFC gold has been anything but traditional. His highly controversial NC win against Petr Yan immediately (and unfairly) labelled him as a “paper” champion. A decisive win in the rematch would undo that, but given the nature of his recent victory against another former champion in TJ Dillashaw, he is still on the lookout for that defining win as a champion.
That win could come up against the now un-retired former double champ Cejudo, who is coming off a 3 year absence from the sport following his TKO victory over Dominick Cruz at UFC 249.
Cejudo’s status as both flyweight and bantamweight champion made him a legitimate contender for the status of pound for pound #1 back in 2020, but a somewhat unexpected retirement has fizzled out talks of him occupying that spot…until now.
A victory over a strong champion in the prime of his career in Sterling would throw Triple C back into that conversation and remind the combat world of just how talented he is.
It’ll be a hard ask, especially considering how confident Sterling is in his abilities and physical advantages. However, as we’ve seen in the past, you write off Henry Cejudo at your own risk.
Odds (via MyBookie.AG)
The co-main event will hopefully serve us up the next welterweight title challenger, as Gilbert Burns takes on Belal Muhammed just 4 weeks after his last outing against Jorge Masvidal.
Despite the UFCs best efforts to match Leon Edwards with Colby Covington in July, it seems much more likely that they’ll manage to match up the winner of this bout against the champion.
Both men have been knocking at the door of a championship shot for the last couple of years, with big performances on their resume to back up their claims.
What to look for in the fights:
Geography. Sterlings use of kicks to control the distance is exceptional, so look for him to employ this against Cejudo in the early rounds. On the mat, should a big chunk of the fight take place there, look for the jiu jitsu to start to be the big differentiator if their high level wrestling proves too difficult to separate.
Fresh. With Burns having fought only 4 weeks ago, it’ll be interesting to see if it works to his advantage in the early rounds or if it starts to fatigue him down the stretch, which is where Muhammed tends to come on stronger with his pressure striking and takedown threats.
Fight ⏰ for this weekend
Boxing: Canelo vs Ryder (Saturday 6th/Sunday 7th)
🇺🇸 Full Card: 10pm Eastern/ 7pm Pacific | Main Event: 11pm Eastern/ 8pm Pacific
🇬🇧 Full Card: 3am | Main Event: 4am
🇦🇺 Full Card: 2pm Eastern/ 12pm Western | Main event: 3pm Eastern/ 1pm Western
MMA: UFC 288 (Saturday 6th/Sunday 7th)
🇺🇸 Full Card: 10pm Eastern/ 7pm Pacific | Main Event: 12am Eastern/ 9pm Pacific
🇬🇧 Full Card: 3am | Main Event: 5am
🇦🇺 Full Card: 12pm Eastern/ 10am Western | Main event: 2pm Eastern/ 12pm Western