By Charles Brun: Eddie Hearn says Billy Joe Saunders and Canelo Alvarez will likely be taking place on May 8th for their super middleweight unification fight on DAZN.
The Matchroom promoter Hearn told AK & Barak [@SiriusXMBoxing] that he’s looking at potentially scheduling WBO 168-pound champion Saunders (30-0, 14 KOs) and WBA/WBC champion Alvarez (54-1-2, 36 KOs) on May 8th at a yet to be determined venue in the U.S.
Canelo-Saunders to compete with Ramirez vs. Taylor
Hearn’s decision to schedule the Alvarez – Billy Joe on that date will put the contest in direct competition with the light welterweight undisputed championship match taking place on the same night on May 8th between Jose Ramirez and Josh Taylor, which will be shown on ESPN.
For U.S boxing fans, there’s going to be a lot of interest in the Jose Ramirez vs. Taylor fight, as it’s a much better contest on paper. Ramirez and Taylor are both sluggers, and it promises to be an exciting match.
Canelo has a bigger name than Jose Ramirez and Taylor for U.S boxing fans, but his fight with Saunders is nowhere nearly interesting. It’s going to be more of a tactical affair than an action-packed fight that fans will see with the Ramirez vs. Taylor.
That match is going to be like two rams right after each other from the first round. Ramirez and Taylor could be a ‘Fight of the Year’ type of match. In contrast, Canelo vs. Saunders could be a disappointing match similar to Alvarez’s fight against Erislandy Lara.
Saunders will try and box Canelo for 12 rounds, which will sure-fire way of going to him. Saunders isn’t going to beat Canelo by a decision, but he has no other choice but to box him.
Saunders can’t punch at all, and if he tries to slug, he’ll get taken apart by Canelo.
It’s not altogether surprising that Canelo will be fighting on May 8th, seeing that it’s the Cinco de Mayo holiday, and he always fights during that time each year. The last time Canelo didn’t fight on that date was way back when Floyd Mayweather Jr used to take the dates from him.
Will Saunders make it through training camp?
It’s still not a given that Canelo will be fighting Saunders on that date, as the British fighter has a long, long history of injury problems. It will be a minor miracle if Saunders makes it through training camp without being downed by some ailment or another.
If Saunders pulls out of the fight, Canelo may need to go with either IBF super middleweight champion Caleb Plant or a replacement opponent.
With Plant (21-0, 12 KOs) complaining of a left-hand injury from his fight last weekend against Caleb Truax, he probably won’t agree to fight Canelo in May.
Even if Plant weren’t injured, he likely wouldn’t agree because he’s already turned down a fight against Alvarez last year when it offered to him three months after his match against Vincent Feigenbutz.