Ryder: Zach ‘robbed’ by hand injury

JOHN RYDER felt that he robbed Zach Parker after winning the WBO interim super-middleweight title to set up a shot at champion Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez.

Parker pulled out at the start of the fifth round with a bust hand, giving victory to Ryder (above), who was behind 39-37 on two of the scorecards and level on the third.

The Islington fighter will now either face Alvarez for the WBO title, or be made champion if the legendary Mexican, 32, moves up to lightheavyweight to rematch Russian 31-year-old Dmitry Bivol.

Ryder, 34, admitted: “It’s a bad injury for him and it feels like half a robbery victory for me.

“It would be a dream to fight Canelo and it would be the icing on my career.

“I started off the year with a great win and it was important to win this to keep the momentum in 2023.”

Parker felt his hand go at the start of the fourth and was gutted to suffer his first pro loss in his 23rd fight in such unfortunate circumstances.

The Derby fighter had already seen two fights against Demetrius Andrade for the interim belt fall through this year and vowed to bounce back from this latest disappointment.

“Obviously I’m absolutely gutted,” said 28-year-old Parker.

“It was at the start of the round. I hit him with an uppercut and you can see from my hand that it is out now.

“He’s obviously a good lad who will go on and do good things in boxing, and I will come back stronger.”