By Charles Brun: Billy Joe Saunders is certain that he’ll beat Mexican superstar Canelo Alvarez when or if the two faces each other this September. WBA ‘regular’ super-middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez (53-1-2, 36 KOs) and his promoters at Golden Boy Promotions haven’t said whether they’ll go ahead and fight WBO 168-pound strap holder Saunders (29-0, 14 KOs) in September.
After the mess of trouble, Saunders got in recently with his advice to men with domestic partners, Canelo may want to wash his hands of this fight and distance himself from this situation.
If Canelo chooses to take the fight with Saunders, some of the criticism that the British fighter has been getting could rub off on him with fans giving him flak for taking this fight.
Saunders and Canelo were supposed to fight on Cinco de Mayo in May, but the pandemic got in the way of it taking place. Whether Canelo would have fought, Saunders is unknown.
The U.S boxing fans have been ice cold towards Canelo-Saunders fight since it was first floated, and this indifference isn’t likely to change.
Saunders predicting a win over Canelo Alvarez
“I know I can beat Canelo. I’ve never been beat and believe I’ll end up unbeaten,” said Saunders @MichaelBensonn via Robert Orphanides. “If I get beat by someone who’s better than me, I can only shake their hand. But my main goal is to get ginger b****cks in the ring and see what I can do,” said Billy Joe.
With Saunders’ track record of suffering frequent injuries, it’s a wonder why Canelo showed interest in fighting him in the first place. For Canelo to count on Saunders, making it through a training camp without suffering a fight-postponing injury is foolhardy. Saunders has shown repeatedly over the years to be a fighter that is fragile and is continually getting injured.
The way that Saunders was losing to his last opponent Marcelo Esteban Coceres until rallying to pull out a come from behind win in the 11th, it’s hard to see him beating Alvarez. Canelo is on another level than Saunders, who looked dreadful against Coceres and Shefat Isufi in his last two fights. Those performances showed that Saunders isn’t cut out to be fighting at 168, and he needs to think about moving back down to 160.
Billy Joe is a bad style match-up for Canelo
Saunders has a bad spoiling style of fighting that will cause Canelo a lot of trouble if he takes this fight. As we saw in Canelo’s matches against Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Erislandy Lara, he has problems with fighters that defensive, and stay on the outside jabbing all night. That’s how Saunders fights, but with not as much talent as Lara and Floyd.
Canelo is probably assuming that he’ll be able to chase Saunders down and knock him out. He probably can, but the fight is going to be hard on the eyes of the boxing fans. Moreover, Canelo won’t look good against Saunders because he’s a pure spoiler, which moves a lot and tries to make his opponents look bad.
Saunders brings all the worst elements to a fight with Canelo, and the Mexican star needs to realize that before it’s too late.
The negatives Saunders brings to a Canelo fight:
- No fan base in the U.S
- Moves a lot
- Spoils
- No power
- Injury-prone – The fight could wind up being postponed
Saunders was supposed to defend his WBO 160-pound title against Demetrius Andrade in 2018, but he tests positive for a banned substance.
It’s not as if Saunders can fight during the lockdown and prove him to the U.S as a quality opponent. Saunders’ 29-0 doesn’t impress fans because the vast majority of his wins have come against fluff domestic level opposition with limited talent.
