Saunders says Canelo & Golovkin are scared of him now

By Boxing News - 12/19/2017 - Comments

Image: Saunders says Canelo & Golovkin are scared of him now

By Scott Gilfoid: Billy Joe Saunders says he’s got Gennady ‘GGG’ Golovkin and Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez both scared after his win over David Lemieux last Saturday night at the Place Bell in Laval, Quebec, Canada.

Saunders thinks those guys won’t want to fight him now, and he might be right about that. It would be a bad career move for Canelo and Golovkin to fight a runner/spoiler like Saunders. I can just imagine all the booing from the boxing fans due to Saunders’ running around the ring to avoid Canelo and Golovkin. The Montreal fans were booing like mad last Saturday with the running Saunders was doing against Lemieux.

After the fight, Saunders addressed the booing by telling the fans that they were unhappy because he was whipping Lemieux’s backside. In essence, Saunders was blaming the boxing fans for his dull fighting style instead of taking ownership of it. He was clearly in denial. I hate to break this to Saunders, but the boxing fans were booing because he was running from Lemieux all night long, and not staying in the pocket the way good fighters are supposed to. It was so terrible to watch. The fans had paid to see the fight, and instead they had to watch 12 rounds of running by Saunders.

Saunders’ fight with Lemieux was perhaps the most negative performance I’ve seen from a fighter since Hughie Fury ran all night in a losing effort against WBO heavyweight champion Joseph Parker last September. Canelo and Golovkin would have to be crazy to want to enter the ring with Saunders and have to deal with similar running from him.

“Listen, that performance tonight scared them off,” said Saunders in saying his win over Lemieux might have frightened Golovkin and Canelo enough to where they won’t want to fight him. ”I don’t think they want to fight me after that performance. What people don’t realize is the rust is gone now. I’m just going to get better, better and better. When I get in with someone that is going to be better than him again, I’ll perform better,” said Saunders.

Golden Boy Promotions president Eric Gomez has already come out and said that he’s not thinking of matching Canelo against Saunders. He’s not on Canelo’s radar screen, and I doubt that he’ll be under consideration even if he beats Golovkin. Canelo can make more money fighting guys like Danny Jacobs, Jermall Charlo, Jermell Charlo, Sergey Derevyanchenko, Golovkin and Demetrius Andrade. Those guys have exciting fighting styles. They’re negative, spoiling type fighters like Saunders. I’m just saying.

Canelo and Golovkin are entertainers. That’s what they do. They have massive fan bases that they built on putting together exciting performances one after another. If Canelo and Golovkin have to face a guy that runs all around the ring like Saunders, they’re going to upset their boxing fans. The only to avoid not upsetting the fan is to not face Saunders in the first place. Let him stay in his own lane as the WBO champion, defending I against the World Boxing Organization’s top contenders. With the negative way that Saunders fights, he’s not likely going to convince too many fans that he rates a fight against Canelo and Golovkin. I doubt the fans will lose sleep over those two stars not fighting Saunders. Further, I can’t see the fans believing that Saunders is the best fighter in the middleweight division.