By Charles Brun: Billy Joe Saunders is unconfident and paranoid heading into his unification fight against Canelo Alvarez in three weeks from now on May 8th at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
Saunders isn’t happy about several things starting with the absence of a British judge for the fight. He says that he was told that at least one of the judges would be British, but now he finds out that’s not going to happen.
WBO super middleweight champion Saunders (30-0, 14 KOs) says he was also told there wouldn’t be any money from the crowds, and now he finds out there will be 70,000 fans attending.
Billy Joe also isn’t happy upon hearing that WBA/WBC champion Canelo (55-1-2, 36 KOs) is already planning for his event against IBF champion Caleb Plant in September.
Above all, Saunders worries that the fight is “fixed” with a predetermined winner Canelo, and he’s not comfortable. He says he’s not coming there to the AT&T Stadium on May 8th to play a part.
Saunders complaining about judges
“I’m looking to get that win as long as it’s a fair playing field,” said Saunders to iFL TV on the Canelo fight. “And I’m a little bit disappointed because he’s already planned events for the Caleb Plant fight.
“I’m here to win. I did this deal based on an English judge, American judge, and Mexican judge. And now, when I came here the other day, no English judge and English officials allowed.
“So I’m still not gotten to the bottom of that yet, and I’m waiting to hear back from someone. But that’s just not acceptable because straightaway, it’s not a level playing field, is it?
“Let’s be fair. I’ve been very quiet, but I’m not blind. Let’s forget about it; I’ll move on. I’ll let the full world see what I can do and then and everybody on the night.
“That’s all I can do. I stuck to my end of the deal. I’ve stuck to my side of the words. First of all, it was no money for the crowds. The next thing you know, there’s 70,000.
“Listen, it’s alright. Yeah, it’s good money. But to keep thinking that you keep changing the goalposts because there’s money. It’s one of them,” said Saunders.
Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn is the one Saunders, 31, needs to be talking about concerning the judging panel.
If there’s been a change in the judges, Saunders should have been on the phone with Hearn straightaway.
Whining about it now makes Saunders sound powerless and isn’t being proactive heading into the biggest fight of his career.
Billy Joe questions whether the fight is “fixed”
“I’m a straight man. Canelo is a very good fighter,” said Saunders. “He’s pound-for-pound the best. He’s never boxed a traveling man yet. And he’s boxed a lot of nationalities, but he’s never boxed a traveling man.
“I’ve done everything in my power to be in my best shape so that I can beat this fighter. Come fight night; we’ll see how good I am and where I am.
“The pressure, the fans, this is built to be a great fight. When it comes to people making plans before this plan is over, it’s two things.
“Rather, it’s fixed already. It’s a scandal, it’s fixed already, and the results are already made. We know in boxing that there’s a lot of corruption in boxing.
“Everybody knows that. So let’s just say that the results are fixed and made already for this fight, or it’s going to be a fair shake of the dice.
“I can definitely shatter other plans. We’re not here just to play a part and go and play a role.
“I wouldn’t be leaving my wife and kids just to go pick a check up,” said Saunders about the Canelo fight.
There’s nothing that Saunders can do to prove that the fight will be fixed, so he should put that out of his head.
If Saunders concentrates on what he can do and stop sounding like a nervous Nellie, he might do good enough to win.
