Canelo Alvarez vs. John Ryder fight results, highlights: Mexican superstar scores decisive win in homecoming

Alvarez battered and dropped Ryder en route to a decision in Guadalajara on Saturday night

Saul "Canelo" Alvarez is still king of the super middleweights. Alvarez retained his undisputed super middleweight championship on Saturday night, bludgeoning John Ryder over 12 rounds to win a wide unanimous decision in Guadalajara, Mexico.

The fight was the first for Alvarez in his home country in more than a decade and he'd promised his fans he would deliver a knockout. It seemed the former pound-for-pound king would deliver on his promise early. After drawing a steady stream of blood from Ryder's nose, Alvarez landed a right hand that sent Ryder to the canvas in Round 5.

While it looked initially as though Ryder would not beat the count, he did manage to make it back to his feet and continue to fight hard.

Alvarez hurt Ryder several more times in the fight but never managed to score another knockdown, let alone secure the knockout. Still, almost every round was dominated by Alvarez's left to the body and right hand to the head.  

One of the biggest changes Ryder made to survive the remaining rounds was to fall back to his jab. When Ryder was able to pump the jab out, it threw off Alvarez's timing. When Alvarez would begin to get rolling offensively, Ryder would push in and smother the attack. It wasn't necessarily a strategy that would win him the fight, but it did give Ryder something of a moral victory in surviving to the final bell.

The champion's dominance was on display on the final scorecards, with the official scorecards reading 120-107, 118-109 and 118-109. While not scoring the knockout in his return to his hometown may have stung, Alvarez maintained that he was content with the way the fight played out.

"It's a historic moment for me," Alvarez said after the fight. "I'm blessed to be here with my people who support me from the beginning. I'm proud to be here. ... You know, I'm happy with the fight. I'm happy the people had a great fight. He's a strong fighter, I know that. I'm not surprised about it."

After David Benavidez scored an impressive win over former champion Caleb Plant, a new top challenger for Alvarez's status as undisputed champion at super middleweight emerged.

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Despite that, Alvarez seems to be locked in on a rematch with WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol. Bivol upset Alvarez in May 2022, a fight that was Alvarez's attempt to win light heavyweight gold for the second time in his career. Since then, Alvarez has had to balance his desire for a rematch with the mandatory challengers for his titles at super middleweight.

After defeating rival career rival Gennady Golovkin in a trilogy fight and dominating Ryder, Alvarez's options for his next fight are wide open.

"You know, everybody knows, we want the rematch with Bivol," Alvarez said. "If the fight with Bivol doesn't happen, we'll see what happens. I can fight everybody."

Bivol has repeatedly brought up that the rematch should happen at super middleweight for Alvarez's four world titles. Again, Alvarez shot down the idea, saying, "Same rules, same everything. I just want it that way."

Ryder now must go back to the drawing board. He has lost two shots at world championship glory. The fight with Alvarez had a clear result while his previous world title challenge had a far more controversial result with Callum Smith winning a highly-questionable decision.

After four consecutive wins to earn another shot at the title, Ryder is unlikely to get another world title opportunity at super middleweight, especially with Alvarez holding all four world titles at the weight.

CBS Sports was with you throughout the entire way on Saturday with the live results and highlights below. 

Fight card, results

• Canelo Alvarez (c) def. John Ryder via unanimous decision (120-107, 118-109, 118-109)
• Julio Cesar Martinez (c) def. Ronal Batista via 11th-round TKO
• Gabriel Gollaz Valenzuela def. Steve Spark via split decision (96-93, 94-95, 95-94)
• Oleksandr Gvozdyk def. Ricards Bolotniks via sixth-round TKO

Alvarez vs. Ryder scorecard, live coverage

Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Total
Alvarez (c)	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	9	10	9	118
Ryder	9	9	9	9	8	9	9	9	9	10	9	10	109

[May 7, 2023 at 2:15 am ET · Brent Brookhouse]

Official result: Saul "Canelo" Alvarez def. John Ryder via unanimous decision (120-107, 118-109, 118-109) to retain the undisputed super middleweight championship

[May 6, 2023 at 10:46 pm ET · Brent Brookhouse]

The main event is approaching. It's almost time for Saul "Canelo" Alvarez to defend his undisputed super middleweight championship against top WBO contender John Ryder as Alvarez fights in his home country for the first time in more than a decade.

[May 6, 2023 at 10:38 pm ET · Brent Brookhouse]

Julio Cesar Martinez vs. Ronal Batista -- Round 11: Martinez trapped Batista against the ropes early and flurried. Batista wilted against the ropes, not firing back as he ate punches from both hands. The referee was forced to jump in and end the fight. A good finish for Martinez in a fight that will only continue the questions over Martinez's quality at the top of the division. Official result: Julio Cesar Martinez def. Ronal Batista via TKO, Round 11  

[May 6, 2023 at 10:35 pm ET · Brent Brookhouse]

Julio Cesar Martinez vs. Ronal Batista -- Round 10: Martinez allowed himself to be put along the ropes again, allowing Batista to land a few good punches, including a solid right uppercut. Martinez still fired back and eventually worked off the ropes and landed a good lead right hand to the body. Batista got his mouthpiece knocked out moments before appearing to be hurt by a right hand to the body.  

[May 6, 2023 at 10:31 pm ET · Brent Brookhouse]

Julio Cesar Martinez vs. Ronal Batista -- Round 9: Batista seemed to accept that he was not going to be able to get the win in Round 9. His output slowed and he became much more willing to let Martinez get shots off without really firing back the same way as he had in the early and middle rounds. Martinez did show some signs of fatigue. He should be cruising to a win here but it's anything but a perfect night for him.  

[May 6, 2023 at 10:27 pm ET · Brent Brookhouse]

Julio Cesar Martinez vs. Ronal Batista -- Round 8: Much as the previous rounds, it was Martinez landing the more impactful punches while Batista stood up to the shots and tried to fire back. Unlike those other rounds, Batista did seem to wear down as the punches were landing. By the end of the round, Batista looked like he was running out of steam.

[May 6, 2023 at 10:24 pm ET · Brent Brookhouse]

Julio Cesar Martinez vs. Ronal Batista -- Round 7: Martinez dropped Batista with a big left hand but somehow it was ruled a slip by the referee. Martinez swarmed trying to capitalize on the knockdown that was not called but Batista was able to remain upright. A very odd round but even without the knockdown getting called, it was Martinez's best of the fight. *UPDATE* After the round, the referee declared that it was a knockdown and told each judge to score it as such.

[May 6, 2023 at 10:18 pm ET · Brent Brookhouse]

Julio Cesar Martinez vs. Ronal Batista -- Round 6: Martinez landed a good hook and a solid uppercut but ate another left hook in return. Batista pushed Martinez into the ropes and landed some solid hooks to the body before coming back upstairs. Batista did a lot of good work to the body and did land some solid hooks upstairs. Martinez is getting the better of things in terms of landing bigger punches but Batista is making every second of this fight difficult on the champion.

[May 6, 2023 at 10:15 pm ET · Brent Brookhouse]

Julio Cesar Martinez vs. Ronal Batista -- Round 5: Martinez is just struggling out there against a guy he was supposed to absolutely run over. When Martinez tries to explode, he doesn't seem able to hurt Batista and Batista is right there to fire back. When he sits back, Batista pushes the action. Again, Martinez may well be ahead on the scorecards but he just is not impressing in the slightest in a fight where the only sort of success would in being impressive.

[May 6, 2023 at 10:10 pm ET · Brent Brookhouse]

Julio Cesar Martinez vs. Ronal Batista -- Round 4: Martinez landed a hard uppercut that backed Batista up but Batista came right back. Martinez threw two straight left hands. Martinez continued to up the pressure a bit, landing some hard shots. Batista was willing to stand and trade, landing a few right hands of his own, even if Martinez was getting the better of the shots. Martinez flurried hard with some wild punches and Batista ate the shots and landed check hooks and then landed two big punches after the bell. Batista was deducted a point for the illegal shots. Given it was the second time he had continued to throw after the bell, it was a good call.

[May 6, 2023 at 10:05 pm ET · Brent Brookhouse]

Julio Cesar Martinez vs. Ronal Batista -- Round 3: Martinez continued to get home with occasional jabs and power punches. The problem has been that Batista is also landing plenty of shots. This is a fight that was made with the express purpose of making Martinez look good after he has fallen off badly in recent showings. Instead, he's in a real fight against what was supposed to be a "gimmie."

[May 6, 2023 at 10:02 pm ET · Brent Brookhouse]

Julio Cesar Martinez vs. Ronal Batista -- Round 2: Martinez landed a good left hook but Batista te it and fired a right hand right back. Batista also continued to go to the body. Martinez worked off the lead hook to catch Batista in his wide stance. Both men continued to throw punches after the bell sounded to end the round. Things are a little chippy and Batista is hanging in there so far.

[May 6, 2023 at 9:57 pm ET · Brent Brookhouse]

Julio Cesar Martinez vs. Ronal Batista -- Round 1: Both men opened with jabs, before Martinez landed a good right hand and then switched stances. Martinez stumbled Batista with an uppercut. Batista continued to fire punches, focusing on the body and trying to get some punches wide around the guard. Martinez tried to whip two wide punches but Batista avoided the damage and landed a short left before the end of the round.

[May 6, 2023 at 9:49 pm ET · Brent Brookhouse]

Julio Cesar Martinez vs. Ronal Batista is up next. The fight is for Martinez's WBC flyweight title. Martinez is a massive favorite against a man who is not even ranked in the WBC's top 50.

[May 6, 2023 at 9:39 pm ET · Brent Brookhouse]

Official result: Gabriel Gollaz def. Steve Spark via split decision (96-93, 94-95, 95-94)

[May 6, 2023 at 9:35 pm ET · Brent Brookhouse]

Gabriel Gollaz Valenzuela vs. Steve Spark -- Round 10: Gollaz landed a right hand early in the round but then ate a left hook and a right hand to the body. Spark started to really target the body and that opened up more right hands to the head. Spark should be up on the cards but Gollaz is from Guadalajara and there have been many worse "hometown decisions" in boxing history. Spark again landed a short left hook, joltng Gollaz's head. The scorecards here will be interesting. The fight was close and Gollaz had the knockdown but it feels like Spark did enough to take this one.

[May 6, 2023 at 9:27 pm ET · Brent Brookhouse]

Gabriel Gollaz Valenzuela vs. Steve Spark -- Round 8: Gollaz started to look pretty tired in this round. Spark was much lighter on the feet and pressed the action but there were far fewer big punches for either man until Spark flurried with several body shots before a big overhand right to the temple. Again, Gollaz took the shots well, but aside from the knockdown, has had far fewer "big moments" over the course of the fight.