By Dan Ambrose: Eddie Hearn has high hopes of putting together fights between Canelo Alvarez and Billy Joe Saunders and Gennady Golovkin and Demetrius Andrade on DAZN.
Canelo (54-1-2, 36 KOs) would first take on Avni Yildirim in February as part of his WBC mandatory requirements, and then battle WBO super middleweight champion Saunders (30-0, 14 KOs) in May.
Hearn likely won’t have to pressure WBA/WBC168-lb champion Canelo to get him to face Saunders because he holds the WBO title.
Canelo needs to capture the WBO and IBF belts for him to become the undisputed champion at 168. Saunders has a good chance of fighting Canelo in May rather than September because he’s someone he arguably won’t need to prepare for as much as he would if he were facing IBF champ Caleb Plant.
That’s a tougher fight for Canelo on paper because Plant has power, boxing skills, and he’s an excellent combination puncher. For his part, Saunders is more of a slippery-eel type of fighter, who would be trying to make Canelo look bad.
If Hearn wanted to make the top executives at DAZN happy, he’s talk Canelo into facing Golovkin in May rather than Saunders. Canelo – GGG is a much bigger fight than if Alvarez chooses to fight Saunders.
Hearn wants Canelo vs. Saunders in May
“I think all scenarios are in play. Obviously, I’m trying to land the Billy Joe Saunders fight [against Canelo Alvarez],” said Eddie Hearn to Boxing Social.
“He’s [Canelo] got offers to fight [Avni] Yildirim and [Caleb] Plant on FOX, and we would like him to fight Yildirim, and then Billy Joe Saunders after that.
“That’s the fight I want to deliver, the biggest fight in boxing. I’m working to do that. If Billy doesn’t get that fight, he’ll fight Demetrius Andrade in America around the same time. So he’s sitting in a good position right now.
Of course, that’s the fight. That’s the fight [against Canelo] that turns you into a superstar, and that’s the fight that Billy has always wanted. I’ve had a good relationship with Eddy Reynoso and Canelo through the Callum Smith fight.
They seem to enjoy working with me, which is humbling. I think wherever they end up or whatever fights they take, hopefully, I’ll be involved. That’s the beauty of him [Canelo] being a free agent.
If we did the Yildirim and Billy Joe Saunders fight [for Canelo], would they go on DAZN or would we do a fight by fight deal for that or would he take it to another broadcast?” said Hearn in talking about Canelo.
“He is a free agent, and he’s not aligned to a specific broadcaster, but obviously through the success of the event on DAZN last time, they would love to bring him back, and we’ll see what happens over the next few days,” said Hearn in wanting Canelo to continue fighting on DAZN.
Hearn is fortunate that he promotes a guy that Canelo is interested in fighting in Saunders because there’s an excellent chance those two will fight in May.
Billy Joe vs. Demetrius is unlikely to happen
It’s hard to believe that Saunders will choose to face Demetrius Andrade if he doesn’t get the Canelo fight. Hearn is obviously hoping that fight will happen, but Saunders has consistently taken easier opposition during his career.
It’s late in the game for Saunders to change his stripes and start fighting guys that present a considerable risk to him like Andrade.
It’s different for Saunders to want to fight Canelo. Yeah, that fight is risky for Billy Joe, but the money he gets will be so huge that he’s willing to take the match.
If Saunders had shown a willingness to take risks with his career, we would have seen him fight Andrade a long time ago. He hasn’t wanted to take risks, and that’s why his resume is filled with subpar opposition.
Saunders’ last ten opponents:
- Martin Murray
- Marcelo Esteban Coceres
- Willie Monroe
- David Lemieux
- Charles Adamu
- Shefat Isufi
- Artur Akavov
- Yoann Bloyer
- Andy Lee
- Chris Eubank Jr
In some ways, Saunders is like Daniel Jacobs with his habit of taking on lesser fighters. The only times that Jacobs has taken dangerous fights was when he was getting a big payday against Golovkin and Canelo, and he lost to those guys.
Golovkin vs. Andrade interests Hearn
“Yeah, that’s a great fight,” said Hearn in talking about the Gennadiy Golovkin vs. Jaime Munguia match. “For me, if Billy fights Canelo, I believe Demetrius Andrade should fight Gennadiy Golovkin.
“You know, that’s a unification fight at middleweight, and I think it’s an intriguing match-up.
“We know that Demetrius Andrade is searching for that big fight time and time again. If he [Demetrius] doesn’t get that fight, he has to fight [his WBO middleweight mandatory] Liam Williams, and that’s a good fight, by the way.
“I think we’ve had this conversation before. Unfortunately, everyone in America is desperate for Demetrius Andrade to fight a major name. And when you mention Liam Williams, they go, ‘Oh, that’s rubbish,’ and we know it’s not.
“That’s a good fight. Liam Williams is a good fighter. So if he [Andrade] can’t land a major fight, he’ll have to fight Liam Williams. That’ll probably happen in February or March time,” said Hearn.
Ideally, it would be great if Golovkin (41-1-1, 36 KOs) were to agree to fight Andrade next, but that doesn’t seem likely. Golovkin wants the fight with Canelo, and Andrade is someone that could wreck his plans.
Hearn should already know that his chances of getting Golovkin to fight Andrade now are nil.
If Hearn offered this fight to Golovkin a decade ago, he probably would have agreed to it. But he’s too old at 38 to be taking on the tricky southpaw Andrade.