Aussie Bilal Akkawy stopped by John Ryder in Las Vegas title fight

Rising star Bilal Akkawy’s world title bid was derailed on Sunday and Australian boxing legend Anthony Mundine says the young gun must make an uncomfortable change if he wants to win a strap.

Anthony Mundine believes Bilal Akkawy should step up a division after a drastic weight loss contributed to his defeat in his first world title bout.

Englishman John Ryder stopped Akkawy via TKO in the third round of their interim WBA Super Middleweight title fight in Las Vegas.

Akkawy only accepted the fight 11 days earlier after Canadian David Lemieux pulled out with a hand injury, and he admitted the late switch of opponent hampered his performance

He found it difficult to combat the experienced, Ryder, a southpaw who improved his record to 28-4.

Bilal Akkawy gets through John Ryder’s defence during their super middleweight fight at T-Mobile Arena. Picture: Ethan Miller/Getty Images

But Akkawy denied he took on the fight too early in his career.

“It’s was a world title fight, experience or no experience, I'm taking it and going in there to give my best,” Akkawy said.

“If you don’t get pushed, if you’re not exposed to such circumstances then how do you get to that elite level. You have to take a chance and step-up sometimes. I would have liked a bit more notice. But some people never get a world title shot their whole career. You don’t turn it down.”

Bilal Akkawy is knocked down by John Ryder (L). Picture: Al Bello/Getty Images

Former boxing champion Mundine, who openly concedes he lacked experience in his first title bout in 2001 against Sven Ottke, believes Akkawy will emerge a better fighter.

“He’s a fighter who wants to fight the best and this opportunity came up and he had to take it. When I fought Sven Ottke, I fought him in my 11th fight,” Mundine said.

“Looking back, that was way too early. But I thought I could beat him, I was beating him until he got me and if I was more experienced it might have been different.

“Maybe Bilal would have gone better if he had a bit more of that experience. But you need to fight guys at that higher level to get used to that skill set, that’s the only way to get experience.”

Mundine believes a step-up in weight division could also help Akkawy get to the next level.

“Personally, I would like to see him at a higher weight, maybe light heavyweight. He might be a lot more comfortable and it would suit him a lot more moving forward,” he said.

The left-handed Ryder produced a challenge for which Akkawy wasn’t well prepared.

“The preparation had a big part in it. Ryder is a southpaw and I hadn’t sparred any southpaws since my last fight with Kerry Hope in 2016,” Akkawy said.

John Ryder (C) and Bilal Akkawy (R) react as referee Jay Nady calls the fight for Ryder. Picture: Ethan Miller/Getty Images

“I haven’t really done much work with left-handers and I was trying to adjust in two weeks.”

The 25-year old also revealed he struggled to cut down to 76kg.

“I cut a fair bit of weight. My last few weight cuts have been hard. It was a learning experience. You can’t be cutting that much weight at this level. I got away with it with my last few fights but at this level you just can’t do it,” Akkawy said.

Legendary boxing trainer Johnny Lewis backed Akkawy to bounce back and believes a world title is well within the Sydneysider’s reach.

“He has the firepower to beat the best in the world. He’s a class act. He can put this behind him and rebound to be a real big threat in that division,” he said.