By Tim Royner: Eddie Hearn hasn’t given up on his fighter Billy Joe Saunders getting the Canelo Alvarez fight despite the viral of BJ that has sent shockwaves through the boxing world of him talking about domestic violence.
The British Boxing Board of Control has given Saunders a temporary suspension until they hold a hearing to discuss his misconduct violation.
In the meantime, Saunders’ promoter Hearn still believes it’s possible that he can fight Canelo Alvarez (53-1-2, 36 KOs). Hearn says that he thinks that Saunders could get the fight with Canelo through July. That could prove to be difficult for Saunders to do if the BBCofC has him under suspension still.
Canelo is already scheduled for a trilogy match with Gennadiy Golovkin for September, and it’ll be difficult for him to keep to that date if he faces Saunders in July. It’s quite possible that the coronavirus could disrupt both the Saunders and the GGG fights for Canelo.
But if Canelo only once this year, you’d have to believe that it’ll be against Golovkin. Where does that leave Saunder? Hearn can still match him against Callum Smith in an in-house fight in the UK, and that contest would do extremely well.
Hearn optimistic Saunders gets Canelo fight
“With Billy, we’ve got to get over his viral video, which has upset a lot of people,” said Hearn to IFL TV. “Regarding Canelo, that all depends on when boxing is back. I think Canelo and GGG would like to have another fight before they fight each other.
“That was their [Canelo and Golovkin] original plan, but it depends on how far back in the year when boxing begins. If it’s July, I think Billy Joe will get that fight. If it starts going to September, October or November, if Canelo only chooses to box once this year, maybe he chooses to have the biggest fight he can,” said Hearn.
You can’t blame Hearn for holding out hope for Saunders to still get the Canelo fight, but things are looking bleak at the moment on that front. For Hearn to continue to talk up Saunder’s chances with the news of his suspension by the BBCofC, he sounds like a person in deep denial.
Even if the BBCofC gives Saunders a slap on the hand by merely reprimanding him for his comments about domestic violence, Canelo may choose to turn his back on the fight and move on.
From Canelo’ perspective, it would be a bad look for him to fight Saunders with the huge backlash that he’s now dealing with from boxing fans. Would Canelo want to deal with the flake that he’ll receive if he faces Saunders next? Probably not.
Eddie worried about The UK economy
“What’s going to happen in the next 3 or 4 weeks is hopefully we start to get on top of this [coronavirus],” said Hearn. “As [UK Prime Minister] Boris [Johnson] says over the next 12 weeks, ‘who knows?’ But you’re going to get to the position where things have to get back to normal. I’m not even talking about boxing.
“I’m talking all life. It’s not just the economic position for the country, but the mental position for the country. Financially there’s going to be such a strain on people moving forward. It’s going to be a bad situation, but at some point, they’re going to have to let people get on with their lives. We have to listen to the government and try and get over it.
“I think you’ll see fighters moved into bigger fights quicker,” said Hearn. “Rather than having a warmup, I think people will be looking to have bigger fights. When we come back, we need to make sure we make the biggest fights possible and the best shows. It’s going to be difficult.
“When you come back, whether it’s June or July, don’t just expect the world to go back to normal. We won’t know until we get back how much it slows down. Boxing has been so hot, and now you’re going to see that 3 months have been taken away, and you haven’t had that fix. So we need to make sure hen we are back, we give you the best possible fights and the best possible product,” said Hearn.