Canelo vs. Saunders expected to be finalized this week – Eddie Hearn

By Boxing News - 03/08/2020 - Comments

By Kenneth Friedman: The May 2 fight between super middleweight champions Saul Canelo Alvarez and Billy Joe Saunders could be finalized and officially announced this coming week. Matchroom head boss Eddie Hearn says the Canelo-Saunders fight is now in the contract stage, and a news conference to announce the fight could take place this week.

Hearn has got to be quite pleased that his fighter Saunders (29-0, 14 KOs) is now on the verge of getting a big payday against the ‘Face of Boxing’ in Canelo Alvarez.

We have a contract from Golden Boy for Billy Joe Saunders. We’ve gone back with our comments, two major, and we haven’t gotten it back yet,” said Hearn to IFL TV on the Canelo fight. “We haven’t gotten it back yet. So there’s no fight yet, and not deal, but we expect that to be concluded. We hope it is. Billy Joe is ready to go. They’re talking about having a press conference next week.”

“If something went wrong, you never know. Callum could get it, but at this stage, I feel that Billy is a big favorite to get that. We got to put a plan in place for Callum Smith, whether that’s Daniel Jacobs, whether that’s Chris Eubank Jr., whether that’s John Ryder, whether that’s Caleb Plant. Anything is possible. It has to be a big fight.  He wants a big fight, and then you’re going to see the best out of Callum Smith,” said Hearn.

Canelo vs. Saunders negotiations could be finalized this week

According to Callum Smith, he and Saunders didn’t ask Golden Boy Promotions for the same type of money that Daniel Jacobs and Sergey Kovalev received to face Canelo. They just wanted what was fair. Hopefully, the negotiations between Canelo and Billy Joe can conclude this week, being that the promotion for the fight needs to begin as soon as possible. It’s March and Canelo still doesn’t have an official opponent for his May 2 fight on DAZN.

We can only hope that Saunder puts in a better performance than we saw from him in his last fight against Marcelo Esteban Coceres last November. Saunders looked lackluster for the first 10 rounds before storming back to stop the Argentinian fighter Coceres in the 11th round.

This will make Saunders’ boxing fans happy but disappoint a great deal of people, who dislike watching spoilers. Canelo really didn’t have a lot of options for his fights.

With him being signed with DAZN, it always going to be Saunders or Callum Smith for his fight on Cinco de Mayo weekend. Although Canelo and WBA ‘regular’ middleweight champion Ryota Murata was a fight that briefly kicked around for May 2, that’s now viewed as a matchup that will take place next year.

Canelo’s options for May 2 fight were limited

With Hearn now saying that the Canelo vs. Saunders fight is on the verge of being announced, this reaffirms what Michael Coppinger’s sources told him about the fight taking on May 2.

“I don’t think they ever wanted to fight me this time around,” said Callum Smith to IFL TV on Canelo not choosing to fight him. “I think neither of us were asking for what Daniel Jacobs or for what Kovalev got, but we want a bit more than what we were offered the first time.

“If Billy Joe has got it, I hope he’s got more than what he first asked for. I think I could have said I’d take it for 20 pounds, and I don’t think I would have got it. I think the offer. There’s no regrets because I don’t believe I would have got it regardless. No, I don’t think so,” said Callum.

Saunders is a good choice for Canelo this time to get him ready for bigger and better fights against Gennady Golovkin for this year. If Saunders off an upset of Canelo, it would be a huge boost to his career, since it would make him a big name overnight. Further, Saunders would get a chance to get a bigger payday in a rematch against Canelo, and that’s where the big money would come in.

Saunders will need to perform at the highest level like what we saw from him in his victory over David Lemieux. That was a masterclass performance from Saunders in beating Lemieux worse than he’d ever been beaten. Billy Joe has the boxing skills to beat Canelo, but the fight will likely take place in Las Vegas, Nevada. That could put Saunders under the gun, needing an incredible performance.