By Dan Ambrose: Billy Joe Saunders has turned down fights against a number of middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin’s past victims, and it doesn’t look like he’ll be defending his World Boxing Organization middleweight title on the undercard of the Saul “Canelo” Alvarez vs. Liam Smith card on September 17. What a pity.
I can’t say I’m surprised. I mean, it’s not as if Saunders didn’t already have tons of opportunities to defend his WBO strap. According to Dan Rafael, Saunders turned down fights against the following top middleweights: Gabriel Rosado, Curtis Stevens, and Willie Monroe Jr. Saunders opted not to fight Golovkin in the past.
“Per @Golden Boy Boxing, Saunders won’t be on the Canelo=Smith PPV because he turned down a fight with Gabe Rosado. #boxing. “”Golden Boy also said when names such as Curtis Stevens and Willie Monroe were suggested for Saunders to fight they were also turned down. Golden Boy also said when names such as Curtis Stevens and Willie Monroe were suggested for Saunders to fight they were also turned down. Saunders ran from GGG and now he’s turning down all his victims too (Stevens, Rosado, Monroe). lol,”
If Canelo wants to fight Saunders in December for his WBO middleweight title, then it’s no wonder why he’s turning down different top level fighters. If Saunders takes any kind of risk and fights a live body, he could get beaten and then ruin his potential big payday fight against Canelo. A fight against Canelo would bring Saunders life changing money and it doesn’t make sense for him to take any risks that involve him facing a decent level fighter. Monroe Jr., Rosado and Stevens are all tough fighters that are either very powerful are very slick. You cannot blame Saunders if he elects not to fight any of those guys.
If he’s got a fight against Canelo in the bag for December, then it’s far better for Saunders to take on someone like Max Bursak for his next fight. I’m not sure if HBO would give the green light to having Saunders fight Bursak on the Canelo vs. Smith card, but it’s probably the smart move by him. if Canelo wants to go after a fighter that is considered by some boxing fans as a paper champion in Saunders, then Golden Boy needs to make sure he’s on the undercard on September 17.
Saunders needs to be seen by U.S eyeballs so that Golden Boy can start building up a fight between him and Canelo for December. It’s actually better for Canelo if Saunders faces a soft touch the way that Andre Ward did recently, because it’ll make him look better than he actually is. This in turn will make Canelo look great by him going out and making easy work of Saunders in December.
Excuses in y he turned down the fight r pathetic. #CowboyStadium HBO payperview, it gets no bigger then that #Coward https://t.co/5NZrNAbtl5
— Gabriel Rosado (@KingGabRosado) 11 August 2016
Well, it’s not a big deal if Saunders isn’t going to be fighting on the undercard of the Canelo vs. Smith card. If he’s going to be fighting a lower level fighter from the top 15, then he’s not going to be adding much value to the card.
Saunders has stamina problems that kick in around the 6th round. He’s one of the best fighters in the world for six rounds, but after the 6th, he’s very average and beatable by probably many of the top contenders. Say what you want about Monroe Jr, Rosado and Stevens as having holes in their games, they have excellent stamina and don’t fade badly. Those guys would have an excellent chance of hanging him his first loss of his career.
Canelo won’t want to fight Saunders once he’s no longer the WBO champion and unbeaten. This is all about Canelo getting an unbeaten champion that he can win an easy title off of. Golden Boy should insist on Saunders taking on a soft touch because he doesn’t have the kind of stamina that would enable him to stand in there and deal with tough fighters like Monroe Jr., Rosado and Stevens. If you saw how badly Saunders gassed against Andy Lee and Chris Eubank Jr., you would understand why it’s so important that he faces a bottom feeder for his fight on the Canelo vs. Smith card rather than someone that could beat him.
Canelo might need to think of some other option for his December fight if he can’t get Saunders on his undercard for his fight against Smith. It’s not going to work if Canelo fights two little known paper champions from the UK in back to back fights. It would look too much like he’s scouring the planet to look for unknown foreign fighters rather risking his neck fighting the best fighters in the States.