World flyweight champion Sunny Edwards believes underdog John Ryder might be built to grind out a shock win over Saul Canelo Alvarez in Mexico on Saturday.

Alvarez will make his first appearance since beating Gennady Golovkin in September and since undergoing surgery on an injured wrist when he takes on mandatory challenger and WBO interim champion Ryder at the Akron Stadium.

Canelo is adamant he is going to put on a show back home in Guadalajara and has suggested he will get rid of Ryder inside six rounds.

But Edwards has suggested that the north Londoner is tough enough to stand firm against Canelo and join him as one of Britain’s world champions.

“I feel like… Where’s Canelo at right now?” said Edwards, who himself defends his IBF title against Andres Campos at the Wembley Arena on June 10.

“He’s obviously a very, very good fighter but where’s he at this second? Ryder has put in a few good performances, obviously against the likes of Callum Smith.

“There are a few worries, a few losses on there for me, the Billy Joe Saunders loss, a knockout loss to Nick Blackwell. They are not the kind of things you want to see on a record before getting in the ring with Canelo, albeit a long time ago.

“But I think he’s one of the more resilient, tougher fighters at the weight and if anyone’s really going to kind of grind it out, it might be him. He’s built for it.

“I’ve never really seen him hurt too much, I’ve seen him take shots and put in performances at a good level, so is it possible that he could pull it out? Maybe he’s tough enough.

“He’s just built that way where it’s like: ‘Hold on, Canelo doesn’t really dent me as much as [people might have thought]’. And maybe, like a Bivol, it kind of unravels Canelo a little bit, he doesn’t make a dent and then gets picked off a bit and the fight’s closer than he’d want it and then he’s losing it.

“It is a massive ask in Mexico for John Ryder. Do I think Canelo is favoured? 100 per cent. But you’ve got to root for the British man. I would love John to do it.”