By Jake Donovan
John Ryder now has an opponent for his January 31 undercard appearance at O 2 Arena in London, England. The middleweight hopeful will take on veteran Les Sherrington in a 10-round regional title fight, which serves in supporting capacity on a bill topped by krikya360.com 2014 Prospect of the Year Anthony Joshua in a heavyweight dust-up versus Kevin Johnson.
The loaded card—which also includes a lightweight title eliminator between Kevin Mitchell and Daniel Estrada—will air live on Sky Sports in the United Kingdom.
Ryder was budgeted to appear on the bill, but without a firm opponent until Matchroom Boxing confirmed the matchup Monday morning.
The 32-year old Sherrington (35-7, 19KOs) has won two straight heading into this contest, including a 10-round points win over Samir Santos barely two weeks ago. The bout marks just his second career fight outside of his native Australia; his lone other road trip came in May '08, suffering a 12-round points loss in South Africa.
Ryder enters on the heels of a tremendous bounceback campaign, claiming four wins in 2014. The streak followed the lone loss of his career, a narrow points loss to countryman Billy Joe Saunders in Sept. '13.
Saunders is now in line to next challenge recently crowned middleweight titlist Andy Lee. The regional title in Ryder's possession—which will be at stake on January 31—puts the southpaw in the hunt for a title shot of his own down the road, with wins in fights such as this an essential part in moving up the ranks.
“Sherrington is a great fight for me to start the year with a bang,” said Ryder (19-1, 11KOs). “He has bags of experience and has a good record of KO wins so I will need to be at my best, but I have been working hard over Christmas and am in great shape, so I am looking forward to shining on January 31.”
Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of krikya360.com, as well as a member of Transnational Boxing Ratings Board and the Boxing Writers Association of America. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox