Canelo Alvarez and Billy Joe Saunders are set for a title unification bout in May. Canelo, the current unified super middleweight world champion is The Ring magazine’s current P4P #1 holds a record of 54-1-2 and has been flawless as of late. Billy Joe Saunders is undefeated at 30-0 but often fails to impress. His career-defining moment was ‘that’ slip against David Lemieux back in 2017. The two are set for a WBA, WBC & WBO super-middleweight world title unification bout in May.
Canelo
For the unification bout with Saunders to go ahead, Canelo Alvarez must first get through Avin Yildrim at the end of February. So, simply put, Canelo and Saunders will be going ahead. No one wants to see Canelo face Yildrim. The fight offers us nothing and it won’t pose any questions for Canelo. How Yildrim is the mandatory for Canelo is certainly questionable. Coming off a loss, the Turkish fighter hasn’t won a fight since 2018.
Since Yildrim last won a fight, Canelo has gone 5-0 defeating high-level fighters. Gennady Golovkin, Rocky Fielding, Danny Jacobs, Sergey Kovalev and Callum Smith have all fallen at the hands of the Mexican since Yildrim last got a W.
Saunders
Undefeated at 30-0, Saunders has an interesting style. He boxes well, hitting and doesn’t get hit often. The main criticism of the Brit is that he rarely goes through the gears and ramps up his performances. Yes, he certainly has the skills to get his opponents out of there, however, he never really seems to and coasts to 12 round victories. With 16 decision victories, Saunders can undoubtedly go 12 rounds.
Most recently, Saunders defeated Martin Murray by unanimous decision to regain his WBO super-middleweight belt.
Canelo Alvarez vs Billy Joe Saunders
This is the fight that fans want to see. Canelo has all but cleared out the divisions around him. Saunders provides a threat that Canelo hasn’t seen before. It unifies the division which is good for boxing. It makes it clear who the #1 super-middleweight is on the planet, highlighting the importance of unification bouts within boxing.
Will Saunders land on Canelo and cause him problems? If you ask Canelo’s former foe, Callum Smith, it’s unlikely. It came out this week that Smith believes ‘Nobody beats him right now‘.
Callum Smith breaks down Canelo: ‘He takes away what you’re good at, nobody beats him right now’ #CaneloYildirim
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— Bad Left Hook (@badlefthook) January 28, 2021
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