By Sean Jones: Canelo Alvarez will break down WBO super middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders to the body, says trainer Joel Diaz. He expects Canelo to walk though Saunders’ shots and wear him down to the body.
Canelo and Saunders were supposed to have fought on May 2, but the fight was postponed due to the pandemic. There still isn’t a date for the rescheduling.
If Canelo chooses to move on, there won’t be too many American boxing fans complaining. They don’t want to see Canelo vs. Saunders. It was Canelo who came up with the idea of facing Saunders rather than one of the talented 160, 168, or 175-pound fighters.
Canelo (53-1-2, 36 KOs) will need to take some shots from Saunders (29-0, 14 KOs) for him to wear him down, but Diaz believes he’ll have little problems. To start with, Saunders isn’t a big puncher, and what little power he has will be minimized due to his movement.
Canelo will break Saunders down to the body
“You know what? I don’t think so,” said Diaz to Fighthub when asked if Saunders can beat Canelo. “Nah, I don’t think so. There’s a lot of business at stake for Canelo to lose that fight. I’m just saying.
“It’s like Canelo knows the responsibility he has on his back, and he’s training. Canelo has not stopped training. You’re not going to catch Canelo in a bad spot. If Canelo was an undisciplined fighter, and anybody could beat him coming back, anybody.
“But Canelo knows the responsibility he has on his back, so he can’t just lay back and say, ‘I got this.’ No, no, no. Canelo is active, training, and getting ready for whatever comes. That’s what I’m trying to say. Canelo is a fighter with a lot of fans and a big responsibility to the sport of boxing.
“I still see Canelo breaking him down to the body because Saunders is a good fighter, but he’s very exposed to the body. That’s where Canelo comes in. Canelo is poison to the body,” said Diaz.
Joel Diaz won’t be viewed as Nostradamus if his prediction of a win for Canelo over Saunders comes to fruition. After all, Saunders was getting the brakes beaten off of him in his last fight against little known Marcelo Esteban Coceres last November when he rallied to stop him in the 11th.
At 30, Saunders is starting to look like a wholly shot fighter, whose career has deteriorated due to inactivity, injuries, and weak-matching.
Alvarez will land the more effective shots
“Canelo will eventually take a couple of hits, and then give you one,” said Diaz in continuing to analyze Canelo vs. Saunders. “But that one will do more damage than two because a fighter that is moving and hitting doesn’t have that solid foundation to land that big shot.
“Canelo is always solid and is always going to try and catch you at the right time, especially when Canelo knows that hitting him to the body will slow him down and take away his legs. For Canelo to beat Saunders, he will apply a lot of pressure and go to the body more.
“I didn’t see that fight,” said Diaz on the Canelo vs. Erislandy Lara clash. “Honestly, I didn’t see it. Yes, a lot of people say that Lara won. Lara is a great mover, and he’s hitting and moving, but he’s not doing much damage.
“Canelo didn’t land much, but with more effective and reasonable punches. But a lot of judges saw the pitty-patting here and there, but it makes no sense. When you’ve got that one shot, they go more for that depending on the judges. But I didn’t see the fight, so I don’t know,” said Diaz on the Canelo vs. Lara bout from 2014.
“But the way people talk about it, I can picture it and see where Canelo wins the fight. The more effective [shots], even though less work, fewer punches, but every punch was doing more damage than Lara was,” said Diaz.
It’s evident that Canelo will land the better shots than Saunders because the British fighter can’t punch. Saunders is a finesse fighter, who generally hits, runs and tries to frustrate his opponents. He’s gotten away with fighting like that because his opposition has been so poor his entire career.
The only halfway decent fighters Saunders has fought were Chris Eubank Jr. and Andy Lee. Those matches took place many years ago when Saunders was younger.
Golovkin trilogy makes more sense
“To me, that’s the one that makes more sense,” said Diaz on Canelo facing Gennady Golovkin next instead of Saunders. “Right now, the one that makes more sense is the third fight between GGG and Canelo.
“But at the same time, a lot of people were unhappy with the first and the second. Going into the third [match], there has to be something dramatic in that fight. Something explosive has to happen, or the fans won’t be happy.
“If they go into the third fight, remember, GGG already lost one fight. He has a loss on his record. When a fighter has a loss on his record, it’s like, ‘I already lost once. I don’t care.’ So I think the motivation is not the same going into a fight than when you’re undefeated.
“Now GGG is like, ‘I’m towards the end of my career, whatever.’ I was in New York when he fought his last fight [against Sergiy Derevyanchenko]. I mean, I was there, and I was surprised by that decision—Derevyancenko, an active guy, a small guy [5’9”], constant punching.
“Actually, he hurt GGG a couple of times. Canelo is young, strong, and still on that point of maturing still. Canelo is really strong now. If Canelo fights GGG and knockout and stops him, people aren’t going to be happy. ‘GGG is old, he’s almost 40-years-old and whatnot,'” said Diaz.
It’s too bad Gennadiy Golovkin wants to take a tune-up fight against Kamil Szeremeta next because it would be great for Canelo to ditch Saunders. However, even if Golovkin did choose to face Canelo next, it’s unlikely the fight would take place.
Alvarez won’t receive credit for beating GGG
“Canelo will not get the credit still, even though he does whatever he does,” said Diaz on Alvarez beating Golovkin. “But still, it’s a very good fight. GGG still has a lot of fans, and a lot of fans believe in him because of the first and the second fights.
“Some people say GGG won the first and the second one against Canelo. So right then and there, it has to be a convincing decision in one more fight.
“We’re looking forward [to Canelo vs. Golovkin 3], and to me, that’s the only fight that makes sense. A fight with Canelo and Saunders, to me, it doesn’t catch a lot of attention.
“Honestly, I would watch it if I go and have a fighter on the card. But other than that, it wouldn’t bring any attraction to me, honestly.
“I haven’t seen Saunders fight once,” said Diaz. “Yes,” said Diaz when asked if he’d never seen Saunders fight.
Canelo will get credit for beating Golovkin as long as he does it decisively. You can’t say that his controversial 12 round decision over Golovkin in their second fight was conclusive enough for him to be given credit. The reason Canelo won’t get credit is if the scoring by the judges makes no sense as we saw in the first two fights.
