The chances of Billy Joe Saunders fighting Canelo Alvarez now seem slimmer.
Saunders, reportedly set to be Alvarez’s next opponent, has been suspended by the British Boxing Board of Control for posting on social media a tongue-in-cheek video on how to commit domestic violence.
That and the sport’s shutdown as a result of the coronavirus pandemic could leave Saunders out of the picture. Instead, Alvarez could fight Gennadiy Golovkin, with whom he has an agreement for a third fight.
“That all depends if boxing’s back for the summer,” promoter Eddie Hearn told iFL TV when asked whether the Alvarez-Saunders fight would happen. “Obviously we’ve gotta get over his viral video, which has upset a lot of people, me included. That’s another conversation.
“Regarding Canelo, I think that it all depends when boxing’s back. I think both Canelo and GGG would like to have a fight before they fight each other. That was their original plan, but again it depends how far back in the year boxing begins.
“I think if it’s July, I think Billy Joe will get that fight. I think if it starts going to September, October, November and Canelo’s only gonna box once this year, then maybe he chooses to have the biggest fight he can.”
Alvarez and Saunders agreed to fight on May 2 in Las Vegas but the fight was never formally announced and later postponed because of the pandemic.
Saunders, speaking to talkSPORT on Monday, apologized for the video.
“I looked at it as a bit of a joke at first,” he said. “I obviously wasn’t thinking right. … Looking back at it now I can clearly see the destruction it has caused among the women suffering from domestic violence. It was a silly mistake, but I didn’t intentionally mean to cause harm to anyone and I certainly wouldn’t promote domestic violence.
“My sense of humor is not everyone’s cup of tea. I can only take it back and apologize for it. I’ve spoken to my manager and among other things I will be donating £25,000 ($31,000) to support domestic violence charities. It is clearly a silly thing to do and I can’t take it back.”