John Ryder has managed to become the mandatory shot for the WBA Super ‘Super’ Middleweight champion Callum Smith after his Saturday night victory in London against Andrey Sirotkin.
Ryder took it slow as he unraveled the Sirotkin puzzle and managed to knock out his opponent in the seventh round. With this Ryder has eliminated the final contender at the Copper Box Arena in London.
Ryder nicknamed “The Gorilla” is now the mandatory challenger for Smith’s WBA Super title. The fight will most probably happen in 2019.
The fight started with both fighters delivering jabs from a distance trying to breach each other’s guard. Russian did manage to breach the guard with a right hand and made a better start. However, Ryder came out blowing in the next round with some crunching hooks and pinpointed Sirotkin in an awkward position.
33 years old Sirotkin responded splendidly in the third round with pouches delivered to Ryder from head to body.
Sirotkin trying to find the right moment for landing his right hand was becoming more difficult with each passing round.
Ryder suffered a large cut in the sixth round but instead of falling he got energized and sent several blows to his opponent’s ribs and thus crushing them.
In the next and final seventh round of the fight, Ryder delivered an uppercut and hammered through his opponent’s guard and finally, the Russian was bundled on the floor. Sirotkin tried to get up back on his face but was sent down to the floor for the second time after getting another brutal blow to the body. This time he could not even beat the count.
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