The WBA super-middleweight mandatory will risk his status

John Ryder will fight David Lemieux on the undercard of Canelo Alvarez vs Daniel Jacobs, according to reports.

The British super-middleweight is currently the number one contender and mandatory challenger to WBA world champion Callum Smith, but will put that position at risk on May 4 in Las Vegas.

Getty 2 John Ryder is 27-4 (15 KOs)

After suffering the fourth defeat of his career, Ryder recorded an upset KO win over Patrick Nielsen and followed it up with a KO of Jamie Cox.

This then earned him a final eliminator against Andrey Sirotkin which he also won by stoppage to become mandatory for Smith’s world title.

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However, his shot won’t be called instantly and so it’s reported by ESPN that he will take a fight with former middleweight world champion David Lemieux in the meantime.

2 David Lemieux is 40-4 (34 KOs)

The Lemieux fight will be no tick over for Ryder and he will be a sizeable underdog heading in, though he has overcome such odds before.

His Canadian opponent has won two bouts since being outclassed by Billy Joe Saunders for the WBO middleweight title in 2017, and he’s now moved up to super-middleweight due to struggles making the 160lbs limit.

In the main event Canelo Alvarez will attempt to unify his WBA and WBC middleweight world titles with Daniel Jacobs’ IBF belt.