John Ryder (boxer)

John Ryder (born 19 July 1988) is a British professional boxer who has challenged twice for the British middleweight title and once for the Commonwealth middleweight title.

As an amateur, Ryder fought for Angel Amateur Boxing Club in his birthplace of Islington, winning 30 fights out of 35.

Ryder turned professional on 10 September 2010, scoring a first-round stoppage against Ben Deghani. Having won his first fifteen fights, Ryder faced fellow undefeated prospect Billy Joe Saunders for his British and Commonwealth middleweight titles on 21 September 2013, losing a close unanimous decision with scores of 115–113, 115–113 and 115–114 for Saunders. Ryder won his first regional championship—the vacant WBO Inter-Continental middleweight title—on 11 October 2014, stopping Theophilus Tetteh in five rounds. He defended this title once, against Billi Facundo Godoy with a tenth-round stoppage.

After Saunders vacated the British middleweight title, a bout was held between top contenders Ryder and Nick Blackwell on 30 May 2015. Ryder lost his second attempt at the title after being stopped by Blackwell in seven rounds. Ryder bounced back on 30 January 2016, winning his second regional championship—the vacant WBA International middleweight title—with a unanimous decision over Sergey Khomitsky.