A hotly-anticipated unification fight is set to take place in the month of May, when Billy Joe Saunders takes on Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez in a 12-round super-middleweight bout in Arlington, Texas.
Mexico’s superstar Canelo is the WBA (Super), WBC, and The Ring super-middleweight champion after defeating Turkey’s Avni Yildirim in February 2021.
Saunders holds the WBO title after claiming victory over fellow Briton Martin Murray in December 2020.
Both fighters have impressive records, with Canelo standing at 55/1/2 (37 KOs), and undefeated Saunders at 30/0/0 (14 KOs).
Canelo comes into this fight - like he does into every fight - as the favourite. He’s widely considered to be the pound-for-pound king of the pugilistic scene, and he breezed past his previous opponent Yildirim.
However, boxing fans are seriously excited at the prospect of a Saunders upset. He has the potential to mix his southpaw stance, technical style and “fight until you drop” mentality to frustrating effect for Canelo.
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Some of the biggest names in boxing have been weighing in with their predictions for the bout.
Speaking on his podcast Hotboxin’, Mike Tyson claimed Canelo has already as good as won before the bout even starts.
Talking about Saunders, Iron Mike said: “He’s knocked out right now; he’s knocked out already. I swear, he’s knocked out.”
Meanwhile Tyson Fury took to Instagram to throw his weight behind Saunders, saying the fighter is “100% mentally in the right place” and will “rise to the top and claim greatness”.
Fury went on to describe himself and Saunders as being the cut from the same cloth.
He said: “Canelo has fought them all but never a Fighting Gypsy, we are a different breed of animal to anything he has come across before.
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Here are the rest of May's fights:
Saturday 1 May at Manchester Arena, Manchester, UK
- Joseph Parker vs Derek Chisora (Heavyweight)
- Katie Taylor vs Natasha Jones (WBA, WBC, IBF & WBO Lightweight Titles)
- Dmitry Bivol vs Craig Richards (WBA Light-Heavyweight Titles)
- Chris Eubank vs Marcus Morrison (Middleweight)
- Jovanni Straffon vs James Tennyson (IBO Lightweight Title)
Saturday 1 May at Dignity Health Park, California, USA
- Andy Ruiz Jr vs Chris Arreola (Heavyweight)
Friday 7 May at Yekaterinburg, Russia
- Magomed Kurbanov vs Liam Smith (Super-Welterweight)
Saturday 8 May at AT&T Stadium, Texas, USA
- Canelo Alvarez vs Billy Joe Saunders (WBA, WBC & WBO Super-Middleweight Titles)
- Kid Galahad v James Dickens (IBF World Featherweight Title)
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Saturday 15 May at Manchester Arena, Manchester, UK
- Terri Harper vs Hyun Mi Choi (WBA & WBC Super-Featherweight Titles)
- Joshua Buatsi vs Opponent TBC (Light-Heavyweight)
- Gamal Yafai vs Jason Cunningham (European Super-Bantamweight Title)
- Lerrone Richards vs Giovanni De Carolis (European Super-Middleweight Title)
- Tommy McCarthy vs Alexandru Jur (European Cruiserweight Title)
Saturday 15 May at Dignity Health Sports Park, LA, USA
- Luis Nery vs Brandon Figueroa (WBC Super-Bantamweight Title)
Saturday 22 May at Virgin Hotels, Las Vegas, USA
- Jose Ramirez vs Josh Taylor (WBA, WBC, IBF & WBO Super-Lightweight Titles)
Saturday 29 May at Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas, USA
- Devin Haney vs Jorge Linares (WBC Lightweight Title)
Saturday 29 May 29, Venue TBC, USA
- Nordine Oubaali vs Nonito Donaire (WBC Bantamweight Title)