Eddie Hearn, promoter of John Ryder, was proud of his boxer's performance against Mexican superstar Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez.

Ryder withstood some big shots and dramatic moments to reach the final bell against Canelo, before a crowd of 50,000 at Akron Stadium in Mexico.

Canelo retained his undisputed super middleweight crown with scores of 118-109, 118-109 and 120-107.

Ryder became the WBO's mandatory challenger last year, with a stoppage win over Zach Parker.

He was dropped hard in the fifth round, and suffered a broken nose in the second, but still made things competitive in the contest and landed good punches.

"The power of Canelo, the body work - fantastic," Hearn told BBC Radio 5 Live. "John showed he was a world-class fighter but Canelo is one of the best ever. John deserves massive respect tonight.

"John came in to the fight when it looked like the fight was over. He stayed in the fight. The more John threw the more success he was having. What a gutsy performance."

Ryder's future in the sport is unknown. The 34-year-old suffered his first defeat since suffering a twelve round decision loss at the hands of then WBA world champion Callum Smith in 2019.

With Canelo holding all of the belts at 168, and the one-sided nature of their fight, nobody will be clamoring for a rematch if Ryder happens to work his way to another mandatory position - and now that the WBO obligation has been fulfilled, the WBC, IBF and WBA mandatory challengers will be next in line to get a crack at Canelo. 

Before any mandatory gets their shot, Canelo is planning to head back to the light heavyweight limit of 175-pounds to challenge WBA world champion Dmitry Bivol in a rematch in September.