By Charles Brun: WBA Super World super middleweight champion Callum Smith says he’s received a 50-50 offer to face WBO 168 pound champion Billy Joe Saunders in a unification fight on BT pay-per-view, according to TalkSport.
Smith (26-0, 19 KOs) is highly interested in facing the unbeaten Saunders (28-0, 13 KOs). The fight would be a big match-up in the UK. Callum had recently been in the running for WBA ‘regular’s super middleweight champion Saul Canelo Alvarez’s next fight on September 14 on DAZN. However, it now appears that Canelo is leaning in the direction of a fight against WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev.
It’s difficult to picture Smith fighting Saunders on BT Sport? Would his promoter Eddie Hearn be on board with Smith fighting on BT?
Callum Smith wants Sanders’ WBO title
- “He’s got a world title, he’s got something I want,” said Smith to TalkSPORT.
Smith, 6’3″, would have a four inch height advantage over the 5’11” Saunders, and a big power advantage as well. However, that point might be worthless to Smith if he can’t land his shots due to the matrix-like defensive skills of Saunders. He’s incredibly tricky, and almost impossible to hit cleanly on a regular basis With Saunders’ southpaw style, he could give Callum fits in the same way he did Davis Lemieux, Willie Monroe Jr., Shefat Isufi and Charles Adamu.
Saunders can put himself in position to face Canelo
With a win over Callum Smith, Saunders could get a fight against Canelo Alvarez. It’s hard not to imagine Canelo electing to face Saunders, 29, if he beats Callum, because there would be a lot for him to gain in taking that fight. But if Canelo is scared off by a win by Saunders, fans can still see a likely Smith-Saunders rematch. Of course, that would depend on Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn, who would be the ultimate decider in whether Callum takes a risky second fight with Saunders.
Callum will be the favorite over Saunders
The lack of power and size for Saunders will put him in the underdog role in this fight, and it’ll be up to him to prove the fans wrong. Most fans think Smith will use his big size and power advantage to stomp Saunders to bits in the same way he did with George Groves last year in the final of the World Boxing Super Series 168 pound tournament. This would be a different situation though, because Saunders isn’t coming off of a shoulder injury and a long layoff like Groves was at the time that he fought Smith last year.
Saunders looked beatable at times in his last fight against Shefat Isufi last May, but he may have been willing to take more chances due to this fight being a mismatch. Saunders defeated Isufi by a wide 12 round unanimous decision to win the vacant WBO 168 lb title.