Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez vs. Billy Joe Saunders Preview, A fight guaranteed to entertain.
As casual boxing fans are treated to exhibitions that mean little besides lining the pockets of the competitors, today we are treated to a genuinely anticipated bout between two of the world’s best pugilists. Mexico’s Canelo Alvarez faces off and will defend his WBC and WBA belts against Billy Joe Saunders who will be putting his WBO strap on the line.
It’s been a long time coming.
A fight that’s been talked about for years finally hits the mat, and our screens. Tentative agreements had fallen through in the past, and the risk of losing this bout once more was hovering this past week when disagreements regarding the ring size threatened the matchup. But as of now, barring a catastrophe, the wily and outspoken Billy Joe Saunders finally does battle with the often cool and reserved Canelo Alvarez.
That trademark reservation however is tinged with red, Canelo claims that “this fight is personal”, not something he usually admits. That’s to say that Billy Joe Saunders and his jovial, often mischievous taunts and behaviour have added some extra motivation. Perhaps not something that Billy Joe Saunders can help – possibly due to his relatively smaller profile compared to Canelo.
Saunders is undefeated after 30 fights, whereas Canelo fought his only loss in 58 when the then 23-year-old faced Floyd Mayweather in 2013. It’s fair to say Canelo has come on leaps and bounds since then, and in his career has collected world titles at 4 different weight classes ranging from Light Middleweight to Light Heavyweight – this bout takes place in the Super Middleweight division. Saunders, a 2 weight world champion with a solid amateur pedigree hasn’t on paper-faced as tougher tasks as Canelo may have, but he tends to rise to the challenge and level of threat posed by his opponent, and it would be foolish to think his relative lack of top-class opponents would lead to him being dismantled much like some of the other Brits the Mexican fighter has faced.
State of the art venue
The AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas will host the fight as 70,000 people are expected in the state-of-the-art home of the Dallas Cowboys NFL franchise. And as fans return, the electric atmosphere will house a contingent that vastly favours Canelo. Not that that will bother Saunders who seems to be relishing this challenge – when he’s not throwing jibes. The two had to be separated during their meeting on Wednesday but since then, they have remained more civil, focusing on the task at hand.
One of the perceived trouble areas for Canelo has been his ability to handle matchups against southpaw fighters, which is the stance that Saunders favours. Whilst Canelo tends to pass these tests, some of these bouts have seen him take more damage than usual. This allows Saunders to exploit a weakness in a game that’s almost bulletproof. They both have power, however, Saunders relies on his boxing more than brute strength.
Canelo has demonstrated the greater ability to knock his opponents out over the course of his career having stopped 37 fighters out of his 55 wins. Something that both also possess in droves is their ability to be mobile and avoid getting hit. This could be prevalent in the first half of the fight as both fighters look to gain rhythm and feel each other out. Again, they both have great ring IQ and will measure up almost even when considering skillsets.
It’s hard to compare the two
It is genuinely tough to measure the level of ability when comparing these two fighters however – while seemingly having many similarities, their rise through the ranks has been vastly different. Canelo turned professional when he was 15 leading to him having 58 fights by the time he was 30. Whereas Saunders had a more traditional amateur career, even having qualified and fought at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Canelo is now seen as the pound-for-pound king after having impressive victories against the likes of Sergey Kovalev, Gennady Golovkin, and Miguel Cotto. Unseating the fighter widely regarded as the best in the world would be the greatest professional moment in the Hatfield-based fighter’s career.
It’ll be on DAZN
The fight will be shown on DAZN’s streaming service and fight fans here in the UK can subscribe for £1.99/month. While DAZN has established itself as a strong international broadcaster, this fight will surely have UK fight fans attracted to the service. This is compounded by Eddie Hearn agreeing to promote some of his fights on the network. The card will begin at 1 a.m. on Sunday as the bout between the two is expected to start circa 4 a.m.
Prediction
CRISP. are not going against the grain here. While Billy Joe Saunders does pose some serious questions for Saul Alvarez, we predict a tightly fought Unanimous Decision victory for the Mexican ace.
