Warren names 2 fights he wants to make in 2018

By Boxing News - 12/30/2017 - Comments

Image: Warren names 2 fights he wants to make in 2018

By Scott Gilfoid: British promoter Frank Warren says there are 2 important fights he’s hoping to make in 2018 involving his fighter WBO middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders facing the winner of Gennady Golovkin vs. Saul Canelo Alvarez, and IBF featherweight champion Lee Selby vs. Josh Warrington fighting Carl Frampton.

Of those 2 fight scenarios, you have to believe that the second one involving the Selby-Warrington winner facing Frampton as having the far better chance of taking place in 2018 than Saunders getting the winner of the Canelo-Golovkin fight. Canelo (49-1-2, 34 KOs) has never talked up a fight against Saunders before. As far as I can tell, the only time Canelo mentioned a fight with Saunders was when he dropped in on one of his press conferences for his fight with Golovkin. Canelo mentioned that he could beat Saunders with 1 hand tied behind his back.

”THE two that stand out are the winner of Gennady Golovkin against Saul Alvarez taking on Saunders, and the victor of Lee Selby versus Josh Warrington against Carl Frampton,” said Warren to the dailystar.co.uk.

Golovkin (37-0-1, 33 KOs) will probably take the fight with Saunders if he beats Canelo in their rematch on May 5. If Canelo decides NOT to fight Golovkin straightaway in a third fight in September 2018 on the Mexican Independence day weekend, then we could see GGG take the fight with Saunders in a unification fight. If Golovkin loses to Canelo, then he’ll probably move up in weight to the super middleweight division or fight for the WBC middleweight title that will fall vacant. There’s no real plus for GGG to fight Saunders if he fails to get past Canelo next May.

Canelo doesn’t want to fight for the World Boxing Council 160 lb. title. Golovkin will obviously make a big push to get a third fight with Canelo if he loses to him on a May 5, in particular if he gets beaten by a controversial decision. There’s so much more money for Golovkin to make fighting Canelo compared to Saunders. It would look bad for Golovkin to fight Saunders if he loses to Canelo. That would be a defeatist move on his part to take that fight.

If Saunders can’t get a fight against the winner or the loser of the Canelo-GGG fight, then he’ll probably get another voluntary defense of his WBO middleweight title. With Saunders fighting early in 2018 and late 2018 in taking back to back voluntary defenses, he’ll likely be ordered to defend against his mandatory challenger for his next fight if he can’t get a unification fight against Canelo or GGG.

It could be bad for Saunders if the WBO orders Saunders to face Daniel Jacobs if the sanctioning body makes him the mandatory challenger. Right now, Rob Brant is ranked #2 WBO. If Saunders is lucky, he’ll fight Brant, who looked awful in losing to Juergen Braehmer in his last fight. If the WBO pushes #4 Danny Jacobs or #3 Jermall Charlo to fight Saunders as the mandatory challenger, then it might end badly for BJ.

If GGG does face Saunders in 2018, he’s going to need to bring his track shoes with him to catch up to him. Saunders showed against Lemieux that he’s going to 100 percent spoil when he faces Canelo or Triple G. Golovkin has a jab that he can use to spear Saunders if he elects to run. Golovkin will still need to figure out how to deal with Saunders’ holding, because he’ll be looking to tie him up at every turn. It’s likely going to be an extremely fight to watch due to Saunders fighting off the back foot.

Selby will likely beat Warrington without too many problems. But where it becomes tricky is the interest from the boxing fans for a fight between Selby and Frampton. That’s not a big fight due to Selby not being a hugely popular fighter. Will some fans want to see Selby fight Frampton? Yeah, some will, but it’s not a major fight from the fans. A bigger fight would be Frampton facing Leo Santa Cruz in a third fight. Frampton vs. Vasyl Lomachenko, Scott Quigg or Oscar Valdez, those would be big fights.