Canelo vs Saunders - May 8 🥊 🇲🇽 🇬🇧

[wandshogun09]

Right then. This is only 2 and a bit weeks away and it’s too big a fight to be tucked away in the weekly Fight Night thread. There’s an undercard too, although who cares really? Don’t even know if this is up to date but I’ll edit as soon as it changes and when it’s all finalised. But here we go. It’s going down on Cinco de Mayo weekend at the AT&T Stadium in Texas. And there’ll be a crowd.

Canelo Alvarez vs Billy Joe Saunders - WBC, WBA, WBO & Ring Magazine Super-Middleweight Titles

Elwin Soto vs Katsunari Takayama - WBO Light-Flyweight Title

Kieron Conway vs Souleymane Cissokho - WBA Intercontinental Super-Welterweight Title

Frank Sanchez vs Nagy Aguilera 

Keyshawn Davis vs Jose Antonio Meza

Christian Alan Gomez Duran vs Xavier Wilson 

Kelvin Davis vs Jan Marsalek 

That TBA fella’s got a busy night ahead, eh? Not the strongest undercard but it’ll do. I vaguely remember Conway from a Matchroom card, I think? He lost to Ted Cheeseman a couple of years back as well. Heard bits about Keyshawn Davis but he’s only 2-0 as a pro so far. From what I’m reading the pick of the bunch should be Soto vs Takayama but I don’t recall seeing either fight unless I’m forgetting something obvious. Takayama went the distance with Chocolatito way back in 2009 for what it’s worth. Ah whatever. Nobody’s here for the undercard are they?

Canelo vs Saunders is the one. A long time coming. It’s been a fight that’s been talked about quite a bit for at least 3 or 4 years now. The earliest time I can remember the talk getting heated was a Saunders interview with IFL in 2017.

“I’ll tell you what Canelo is. He’s a little ginger pussy. A little ginger faggot, that’s what he is. I don’t know why Golovkin‘s worried about him.” - Billy Joe Saunders 

Yep. That’s what BJS said about him at the time. Classy. Talk of them facing off has popped up and fizzled out sporadically over the years since but it never got over the line for one reason or another. Until now.

What can you say about Canelo?

One of the very best fighters on the planet right now. 55-1-2 record with 37 by knockout. Wins over Gennady Golovkin, Miguel Cotto, Amir Khan, Daniel Jacobs, Shane Mosley, Sergey Kovalev, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr, Liam Smith, Callum Smith, it goes on. All that and he’s still only 30 years old. He’s been busy. The only loss came against Floyd Mayweather back in 2013. It went down as a majority decision win for Floyd because CJ Ross is an idiot or corrupt or both and scored it a draw. But anyone who saw the fight knows it was a clear win for Floyd. That’s the only real blemish on his record. Although the draw against Golovkin was mega tight and I think I might’ve had GGG edging it. Regardless, it’s been a hell of a run.

I’ve made no secret on here over the years that I can’t stand Saunders. He’s always come across as an absolute dickhead. Very good boxer but even then I think he’s a tad overrated in some circles. He’s got skills, I’m not denying that. But he’s been talked up as the stuff of Canelo’s nightmares for a while now and I don’t see it. Genuinely think most of the people saying that are just hedging their bets so they can say they ‘told you so’ if he somehow pulls it off. Because aside from the slick performance against David Lemieux in the gif above there, he’s really not been very consistent or looked all that impressive in a lot of his fights. And it’s not like he’s been mixing with the kind of opposition I’ve reeled off from Canelo’s run above. He didn’t look all that in his win over a 38 year old Martin Murray on the verge of retirement last time out. He got buzzed by this ham and egger a couple of fights before that...

Shefat Isufi AKA ‘the shithouse in Stevenage’ as d-d-d-dAz called him recently. He had an awful showing in Scotland against that Russian before that as well. Even the Eubank fight, it’s talked about now like he schooled Eubank but he was only good for the first half of it, couldn’t maintain it down the stretch and let Eubank make it close in the second half. Honestly, Lemieux fight aside, when has he looked amazing? But he’s got Canelo pissing the bed every night? Nah. I’ll give Saunders this, he’s got himself in phenomenal shape for this fight. This picture has been doing the rounds today;

All well and good and it at least shows he’s been putting the graft in. But in the end I don’t see it working out too well. Don’t get me wrong, I’m interested to see it more than a lot of the other options out there for Canelo at the moment. And the possibility of Saunders getting broken up does appeal to me. But I don’t see Saunders winning or giving Canelo fits like a lot seem to at all. The combination of his lack of power and Canelo having a head and chin like marble make a stoppage win highly unlikely for BJS. His best chance of winning is on points. But that’s going to be tough just because of how good Canelo is for one. Then on top of that, even if you do get the better of Canelo over 12 rounds, good luck getting the decision in Texas on Cinco de Mayo. Not happening. And good. I hope Canelo fucking obliterates the little scrote. 

**You can watch this live on the DAZN app (or wherever you stream fights, perfectly legally and above board of course). From what I’m reading the main event ring walks are currently expected around 4am.**



Yes.

No.

Edited May 7, 2021 by wandshogun09

[Egg Shen]

Kid Galahad/Jazza Dickens for the IBF World Title is expected on this too

[wandshogun09]

Nice one. 

[Egg Shen]

Fully expecting a Canelo win here. As i i mentioned in a seperate thread the other day, i just dont see a path to victory for Saunders. Question is whether or not Canelo can stop him, i think he might late, Canelo is a punisher at Super Middleweight.

[wandshogun09]

I’ve got a feeling it’ll go to the cards myself. I think Saunders might be able to move enough and avoid the very worst of it. But ultimately lose on points and I don’t think it’ll be controversial. I just don’t see him getting enough done over 12 rounds. To win a decision against Canelo in the US you’re going to have to really give him a hiding to the point it’s so obvious it can’t be denied. And even then they still might deny you (see Fury vs Wilder 1). But I don’t see Saunders being able to do that anyway. Saunders fans are talking like Canelo is just a slugger who doesn’t know how to handle boxers but it’s barmy talk obviously. He’s good at slipping and blocking shots himself, if you do get through then he’s got a chin and a half on him, he hits hard himself, puts combinations together beautifully, counters really well, puts the pressure on really well, is dangerous the whole 12. It’s not as straight forward as ‘Billy Joe wins because he’s technical and has abs now’. Like you say, I just can’t see a clear path for Saunders to win. 

Edited April 21, 2021 by wandshogun09

[jimufctna24]

They're both gobshites. So I will be happy whichever way it goes really. 

Can't see BJS winning more than 3 rounds. He's never looked particularly impressive at Super-Middleweight.  

[David]

I know it's hard to see past Canelo, but I honestly think Saunders wins this. I can see him frustrating Canelo a fair bit, and I actually think he may put Canelo on his arse at some point.

One thing about Saunders, and it's the same with Fury as well funnily enough, is that he boxes to the level of his opponent. Stick him in there with a schlub who's just there to make up the numbers and he's liable to piss about in training, come in looking overweight and make a real slog of it.

But I think he's coming into this fight in shape, sharp, and with a point to prove.

One thing we can be sure of is that he's going to give Canelo something different. Almost everyone who fights the guy has the utmost respect for him. Saunders will look to mug him off and get him rattled. Will it work? Who knows. It might though, especially if he manages to get Canelo missing shots and frustrated.

It's by far the most interesting fight of the year I think outside of the Fury/Joshua scrap. And a win for Saunders would be like Clubber Lang beating Rocky. The Yanks and Americans will fucking hate it, so naturally I'm on board.

[Egg Shen]

19 minutes ago, David said:

 

One thing about Saunders, and it's the same with Fury as well funnily enough, is that he boxes to the level of his opponent. Stick him in there with a schlub who's just there to make up the numbers and he's liable to piss about in training, come in looking overweight and make a real slog of it.

 

i think that's generally the feeling with Saunders and i'll agree with it to a degree, but is it fully accurate? 

Outside of the Lemieux fight which he did look great in, Saunders has never put in any kind of performance that tells me hes anywhere near the level of Canelo Alvarez. He's bumbled his way through so much of his career that its surprising that people keep using that narrative to describe him. If he does have the extra gear people think he has it could be a quality fight. I think Saunders would have had a much better chance at Middleweight though, hes shown very little at Super Middle.

...and theres is absolutely no way he puts Canelo on his arse, not a chance.

[wandshogun09]

Yeah I agree with David’s post to an extent in that at least Saunders is something a bit different as an opponent. But I’ve heard and read the ‘he fights to the level of his opponent’ thing a few times about Saunders and I’m not sure. With Fury it’s clearly the case. He noticeably steps it up a few gears when he’s in with a Klitschko or Wilder compared to when he’s in with a Pianeta or Seferi type who he can just mug off. If Fury doesn’t see any threat in the opponent he’s typically been pretty content to just coast and show off a bit. It’s almost like it’s the Boxing equivalent of a pro wrestler dragging a squash match out a bit to get their camera time. With Saunders, I don’t think he’s even gone up and down in levels that much so how do we even know? He hasn’t really even fought any of the top guys in his weight range and even when he fought someone with a bit of a ‘name’ like Eubank, it wasn’t like he turned it up and looked particularly impressive. The main standout performance of his career was the Lemieux one but Lemieux, while powerful, is a lot more one note and predictable than Canelo, obviously. Any talk of these other gears he’s meant to be able to tap into is guesswork until we actually see it. It’s not enough to give me confidence in him at the level Canelo’s been operating on. Judging by the shape he’s in he’s clearly busted his arse in camp for this fight. And that’s to be expected, it’s the biggest fight of his career by far. But I just can’t see how he gets this done. Even his best performances, I’ve never watched him and thought he’d give Canelo nightmares. 

[Egg Shen]

Yeh, i think with Saunders people just assume he has the gears to goto, despite never having really gone to them or shown he even has them.

[wandshogun09]

He might do as well. I’m not writing off that possibility. I think he’ll certainly be a better version of himself than we’ve seen before because he’ll have to be. I’m just not convinced it’ll be enough. And I hope it’s not because fuck him. 

[Carbomb]

I remember asking this question a couple of months back, wondering if BJS was being overlooked in the same way Fury was leading up to his match with Klitschko. And Fury was possibly seen as more of a joke than BJS was at the time. Obviously, a big part of the comparison is the Traveller heritage, and the notion that Fury may have demonstrated that the boxing world has been sleeping on Traveller boxing training.

Either way, I really hope that's not true, because he's such a cunt.

[jimufctna24]

1 hour ago, Carbomb said:

I remember asking this question a couple of months back, wondering if BJS was being overlooked in the same way Fury was leading up to his match with Klitschko. And Fury was possibly seen as more of a joke than BJS was at the time.

A few differences.

1) Fury's career was on the rise as he had just absolutely rinsed Chisora and Christian Hammer. By contrast, Saunders looked mediocre against Murray and was given a lot of issues by Coceres before stopping him in round 10. 

2) While the majority of pundits picked Wladamir to beat Fury, there was a minority who not only accurately predicted that Fury would win but how he would do it. The predicted that Fury's unconventional style would flummox Wlad and make him gun-shy. And it did just that! I am yet to hear a convincing argument to explain why Saunders can beat Canelo. 

[Egg Shen]

its never a big fight week without cotroversy

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/boxing/article-9540545/Billy-Joe-Saunders-team-threaten-pull-Canelo-Alvarez-fight.html

Saunders threatening to walk unless the ring is made bigger.

[Mr Lawrence]

Saunders Dad is a cretin. I have just watched his IFL tv interview. 

I get what they are trying to do by either unsettle things, make out everything is against them, pre make their excuses if they lose etc. But if they honestly think Canelo gives two fucks about this nonsense then they are mistaken. 

They are trying to unsettle them similar to how Fury did Klitchko, however Fury had a legitimate complaint with the way Team Klitchko tried to put padding under the canvass to prevent his movement. 

I’m pretty sure the size of the ring is thrashed out between management companies and put in the contract. If they are looking to blame anyone, surely it should be MTK and not Eddie Hearn. Also the interviewer asks Saunders Dad, was the ring size not in the contract and he says “i dont know.”

Suppose it may draw up a little more interest in the fight, it’s better than Chisoras nonsense last week.