By Dan Ambrose: Middleweight world champion Billy Joe Saunders says he sees Saul “Canelo” Alvarez as a flawed fighter that he’d beat every day of the week if he ever fought the 26-year-old Mexican fighter. Saunders says he sees Canelo as an inferior to IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin, and he thinks his fighting style is all wrong for him.
In looking at how the 5’9” Canelo struggled at times against the 5’10 ½” Liam Smith in their fight on September 17, it’s not hard to picture Canelo having problems with the 5’11” Saunders, because he’s taller than Canelo and Liam Smith. Saunders has a longer reach, he’s a southpaw, fast of hand, and hard to hit. He’s a boxer/puncher. However, with Saunders’ stamina problems, Canelo might be able to get the better of him in the last half of a fight against him.
Saunders gassed out in the last six rounds against Andy Lee last December and in his fight against Chris Eubank Jr. in 2014. That doesn’t mean that Canelo will be able to KO him, because usually the guys that Canelo has knocked out in the past where fighters that either fought stupidly by standing in front of him trying to slug or ones that backed up against the ropes like sparring partners, which is what Liam Smith kept doing against him.
Smith fought a stupid fight and was knocked out. Saunders doesn’t stand in the pocket and slug with his opponents, and he never backs up to the ropes to playing partner like we saw with Liam Smith all night long. Golden Boy did their homework in hand picking Smith for Canelo to fight instead of one of the talented junior middleweights like the Charlo brothers, Erislandy Lara or Demetrius Andrade.
“Every time Canelo fights, you can pick up faults with Canelo,” said Saunders. “Personally, in my opinion, I beat Canelo seven days a week and twice on Sundays. He’s a great fighter. He’s a good inside fighter. I think he’d struggle with someone with a very good boxing brain. I think my style is all wrong for him. All wrong. It’s easy for him to make the fight. I know he’s injured at the moment. I don’t think they’d [Golden Boy Promotions] would be keen for that fight, but Golovkin to me is the better fighter.”
Saunders wants to fight Canelo in 2017, as soon as his injured hand heals up. I think that’s a fight that Golden Boy will be looking to make for Canelo. It’s a winnable match, but not an easy one. Canelo needs a world title to help justify offering Golovkin a flat fee of eight figures for a fight between them. It looks all wrong having a challenger offering a three-belt middleweight champion the much smaller amount of money for a fight. But if Canelo can pick up the WBO middleweight title from Saunders, then he can say to Golovkin, ‘See, I have the WBO 160lb title. Are you going to take the eight-figure offer I gave you or what?’
If Canelo loses to Saunders, it’s going to make him look really bad. Golden Boy would need to rebuild Canelo by restarting the Angulo, Kirkland and Khan soft match-making to pad Canelo’s resume even more to get the boxing public to start believing in him again. A the same time, Canelo would need a major confidence booster so that he feels better about himself by the time he faces Golovkin at some point in the future.
I think Saunders would give Canelo a lot of problems, and I could see him out-boxing Canelo in the same way that Amir Khan did. That doesn’t mean the judges would give Saunders rounds. If the judges were giving Canelo round after round in his fights against Khan and Austin Trout, then Saunders would be wasting time trying to beat Canelo by a decision. I don’t think the judges would give Saunders a decision against Canelo. He would have to try and KO the Mexican fighter, because I don’t see him getting a decision unless the fight takes place in the UK.
Saunders is right about Golovkin being the better fighter than Canelo. I think Golovkin is a much better fighter than Canelo for the time being. However, that doesn’t mean that Golovkin will stay the better fighter if Golden Boy chooses to wait him out until he’s a partially shot fighter before making the fight happen. If the fight doesn’t take place in 2017, then you have to conclude that Golden Boy sees Golovkin as still not being over the hill. When he gets to that point, then they’ll make the fight, but I don’t see that happening in 2017. It would be big news for boxing fans if Golden Boy went ahead and let Canelo mix it up with Golovkin, because the chances would be very high that Golovkin wild win by a knockout or by a one-sided 12 round decision that left no question who the better fighter is.
Golovkin would turn Canelo into another David Lemieux by batting him with jabs and body shots. Canelo is like a heavier, less mobile version of Kell Brook. When you take away the mobility that Brook had going for him and throw on an additional 15 to 20 pounds, then you have Canelo. Golovkin would likely massacre Canelo and it would be a real downer for his fans. Golovkin beats Canelo if they fight right now or in 2017. But if Canelo waits until later in the future, then he’ll increase his chances of winning. Of course, Canelo’s popularity will plummet if he avoids Golovkin, and his career will be stunted.
