By Dan Ambrose: Billy Joe Saunders earned $8 million for his fight last Saturday night against superstar Canelo Alvarez at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
With that hefty payday, Saunders can retire if he chooses and never having to work another day in his life. The eye injury that Saunders sustained has put his career at risk, and it’s unknown if he’ll be able to continue.
The Matchroom Boxing promoter Saunders still hasn’t said whether he’ll attempt to resume his career following his eye surgery to retire a triple fracture of his right orbital and cheekbone in the eighth round.
If Saunders does resume his career, he’ll need to take things slowly to ensure he doesn’t suffer a setback.
That’s a nice payday for the 31-year-old Saunders, especially given how the fight ended with him choosing to stop fighting after suffering an eye injury.
Saunders receives a nice golden parachute
Mike Coppinger is reporting the purse figure that former WBO super middleweight Saunders (30-1, 14 KOs) receiving an $8 million purse. In comparison, past Canelo opponents received considerably bigger paydays fighting him. Here are two of them:
- Sergey Kovalev – $12 million
- Amir Khan – $13 million
Of course, those fights with Canelo took place pre-pandemic, and it’s possible those numbers would be greatly reduced for those fighters if they had fought the Mexican star now.
Sources: Billy Joe Saunders earned $8 million for 168-pound title tilt with Canelo Alvarez. He’s been vocal about longtime friendship with advisor, Daniel Kinahan, who did the deal with Eddie Hearn. With a career-threatening injury, Saunders should be set for life #canelosaunders
— Mike Coppinger (@MikeCoppinger) May 11, 2021
Edgar Berlanga slams Saunders for quitting
“P****, that’s all I can say,” said Edgar Berlanga to Little Giant Boxing in reacting to Saunders quitting on his stool. “Even if he was losing the fight, at least go out with a bang.
“You’re in front of 73,000 people. It’s sad that it had to end like that. I don’t agree with it. There are girls and guys out there that go out with eyes like this. I don’t understand why he would do that in front of 73,000 people like that. That’s bad for business.
“I got Canelo in that,” said Berlanga when asked his thoughts on a fight between Canelo and Caleb Plant. “Break him down, go to the body because Caleb Plant fights the same way like this guy [Saunders] does.
“He likes to hit and run and doesn’t have too much power. He doesn’t sit on his shots like that, so Canelo is going to walk him down, break him down in the same exact way as he did tonight.
Interestingly, Canelo’s next potential opponent, IBF super middleweight champion Caleb Plant, is rumored to be asking for $15 million. If that number is valid, it’ll be fun to see if he gets anywhere close to that figure. Plant should have asked for $20 million and worked his way down to $15 million.
With an asking price of $15M, it shows you what Canelo is up against in trying to make the 168-lb unification match with the unbeaten Plant (21-0, 12 KOs) in September.
Given how badly Canelo has telegraphed his desire to face Plant next, you have to wonder why the IBF champion isn’t asking for considerably more than $15 million.
Caleb Plant may command a bigger purse
Canelo may need to pay a King’s ransom to get a chance to get his paws on Plant’s IBF belt. If the Mexican star has any sense, he’d forget about his goal of becoming the undisputed champion at 168 and focus on fighting opposition that the boxing fans want to see him fight in high numbers.
While there is a segment of the boxing world that is excited at the thought of seeing Canelo fight the finesse fighter Plant, the vast majority would likely prefer to see him fight Gennadiy Golovkin, David Benavidez, and Jermall Charlo.
Those are the big three that fans want to see Canelo fight around his weight class, which he’s arguably been avoiding. The other fighters that the fans would prefer to see Canelo fight ahead of Plant are these guys:
- Dimitry Bivol
- Artur Beterbiev
- Gilberto Ramirez
- Joe Smith Jr
- Demetrius Andrade
- Jermell Charlo
Based on the chatter from the fans, Plant is way way down on the list of opponents that people would prefer to see Canelo fight. That’s why Canelo needs to think twice before giving Plant his asking price for the fight because it might not be worth it.
From DAZN’s perspective, they likely stand to bring in many more new subscribers if Canelo faces someone like Benavidez, Beterbiev, Charlo, or GGG than if he faces Plant.
The upside in Canelo fighting Plant, though, is it’s another Saunders-like easy fight that he’ll likely without worry.
If Canelo fights the talented guys, there’s a good chance he’ll lose. That’s why he’ll probably stick it out with the Plant fight and begrudgingly give him his asking price.
