Canelo vs. B.J. Saunders is a Done Deal Says Everyone but the Promoter

The hype machine is whirring for the May 2 match at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas between Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and Billy Joe Saunders. That’s no thanks to Golden Boy Promotions. On Thursday afternoon, March 5, a representative of this web site reached out to a Golden Boy higher-up with whom he had frequent dealings seeking confirmation that all the scuttlebutt was true. The higher-up was evasive. “Nothing’s official,” he said without elaboration.

Meanwhile, one of the world’s leading boxing web sites has already broken down the matchup, analyzing the strengths and vulnerabilities of the two combatants and offering plausible scenarios of how the bout will play out. Wouldn’t it be fun if Golden Boy throws the media a curve ball and picks someone other than Billy Joe to fill the slot?

We consider that highly unlikely.

The T-Mobile has become Canelo’s home away from home on Mexican holiday weekends. His 2016 Cinco de Mayo match with Amir Khan was the first boxing event in the spanking new 20,000-seat arena which had its ribbon-cutting the previous month. The following year he met Julio Cesar Chavez Jr here on the Cinco de Mayo weekend and last year he drew Daniel Jacobs. He missed 2018 when the Nevada Athletic Commission suspended him after he tested positive for the banned substance clenbuterol, pushing his rematch with Gennadiy Golovkin into September of that year where it coincided with Mexican Independence Day.

By all accounts, Golden Boy considered three opponents for the May 2 date that they had reserved several months back – Saunders, his UK countryman Callum Smith, and Japan’s Ryota Murata. Each has a world title belt, Saunders and Smith at 168 and Murata at 160. Of the three, Saunders (29-0, 14 KOs) is the lightest puncher but the slickest boxer.

Billy Joe

A member of the Irish Traveler community, Billy Joe Saunders, 30, is the great-grandson of Absolom Beeney, a renowned bare-knuckle fighter and is thought to be a distant cousin of his close friend Tyson Fury. He represented Great Britain in the 2008 Olympics at the age of 18, losing in the second round to eventual silver medalist Carlos Banteaux, a Cuban that he had previously defeated. Heading into the games, his amateur record was reportedly 49-0.

Although Billy Joe has never lost as a pro, he’s had something of an up-and-down career. The Saunders that showed up against Artur Akavov and Willie Monroe Jr. has no prayer of defeating Canelo. But the Saunders that showed up against David Lemieux will almost certainly make it interesting.

Saunders met Lemieux on Dec. 16, 2017 on Lemieux’s turf in Quebec. It was a “pick-‘em” fight at British bet shops, but Saunders put on a clinic, winning every round on one of the scorecards. Lemieux landed perhaps one meaningful punch the entire 12 rounds.

That gave Saunders the WBO middleweight title, a belt that he would never defend. A bout with Demetrius Andrade fell out when Saunders was suspended by the Massachusetts Boxing Commission for testing positive for the banned substance oxilofrine, a common nasal decongestant. And he got in dutch with the British Boxing Board of Control when a video surfaced of him taunting a drug addict while sitting in his Rolls Royce with several companions, offering her crack cocaine to perform a sex act or punch a passer-by, which she did. That disgusting episode resulted in a $100,000 fine.

This wasn’t the first incident of this nature. In 2008, he was accused of lewd behavior involving a housekeeper at a hotel in France where the British Olympic boxing team was holding a pre-Olympics camp. The incident came to light after Saunders lost his match with Banteaux but while the Games were still in progress. Saunders was suspended by Great Britain’s Amateur Boxing Association.

In the emotional maturity department, Billy Joe Saunders is England’s answer to Adrien Broner.

Saunders has fought three times since the Lemieux fight. After a tune-up with a 40-something Ghanaian, he outpointed Germany’s unheralded Shefat Isufi to win the vacant WBO 168-pound belt and defended it with an 11^th-round stoppage of Argentina’s unheralded Marcelo Esteban Coceres.

Canelo

There isn’t much more that one can say about Canelo Alvarez. Boxing biggest box office star, Alvarez (53-1-2, 36 KOs) was named the 2019 Fighter of the Year by The Sweet Science and virtually every other entity.

The Mexican redhead’s lone defeat came two months after his 23^rd birthday when he went 12 rounds with Floyd Mayweather. He’s 29 now and much improved. Since the Mayweather fight, he’s 11-0-1 and cemented his legacy by winning titles in four weight classes from 154 to 175. It is worth noting, however, that Billy Joe Saunders is a southpaw and that Canelo had a difficult time with southpaws Austin Trout and Erislandy Lara.

So, pencil in Canelo Alvarez vs Billy Joe Saunders for May 2 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. But to be on the safe side, keep an eraser handy. As we write this, it still isn’t official.

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