By Nathan John, University of Gloucestershire
Pound 4 Pound king Canelo Alvarez takes on unbeaten Billy Joe Saunders at the AT&T stadium in Texas on Saturday night with the British super middleweight WBO looking to dethrone the current WBA and WBC champion for his belts.
The Mexican comes into this fight with a record of 58-1-2, whereas his challenger holds an unblemished record of 34-0-0. Saunders stands at 5ft 11in (180 cm), just taller than Canelo at 5ft 9in (175 cm), and is a year older than his opponent at 31. The Brit also maintains a slight reach advantage of 71in to Canelo’s 70 1/2in.
Canelo explains why Billy Joe Saunders will be a difficult fight for him. 🥊 pic.twitter.com/W58B87BFbe
— DAZN Boxing (@DAZNBoxing) May 6, 2021
Canelo has acknowledged the challenge that Saunders will bring to the Ring, having stated to the BBC “This is going to be a difficult fight for me because his styles very difficult”. With the Mexican used to facing orthodox fighters, the threat that Saunders could pose as a southpaw could bring significant challenges to Canelo, especially given his signature slipping technique and height disadvantage.
The real challenge for Canelo will be if he can take the fight to Saunders, not allowing him to exchange blows and attempt to knock the Brit out, with 37 knockouts to Saunders 14, it will be interesting to see how the two unique styles match up on Saturday night.
With the weigh in set to take place today, there was a humorous moment at the press conference today when the WBC and Lineal heavyweight champion Tyson Fury loudly chanted in support of his friend Saunders, with the two both originating from gypsy heritage and having known each other for many years.
With the fight taking place in Vegas, there will unfortunately be no chance for British supporters to travel over to the U.S due to the current pandemic, to support Saunders and join the 70,000 that are expected to be in attendance. This therefore meaning it is likely the majority of support will be for Canelo, who has decided to fight close to the Mexican border, but not in his home nation.
With the fight now definitely confirmed, there had been talk of a dispute within the fight contract which specified a certain size of ring being used. With this apparently having been gone against by Canelo’s team, Saunders threatened a no show, saying “I’ve come a long way for this, Canelo need to grow some b******s and follow the contract”.
Thankfully for all involved, these issues now appear to have been resolved and the fight looks set in stone to take place. With media duties now out of the way, it is time for both fighters to prove their talk and step up to the plate on Saturday night to prove who’s best.
