Tag: Alvarez vs Saunders

Fight Week: Canelo Alvarez and Billy Joe Saunders ready to rumble

FIGHT WEEK canelo alvarez and billy joe saunders are set to unify three of the four major 168-pound titles saturday at the dallas cowboys’ home stadium. *** MAGOMED KURBANOV (21-0, 13 KOs) VS. LIAM SMITH (29-2-1, 16 KOs) When : Friday, May 7 Where : …

FIGHT WEEK

canelo alvarez and billy joe saunders are set to unify three of the four major 168-pound titles saturday at the dallas cowboys’ home stadium.

***

MAGOMED KURBANOV (21-0, 13 KOs)
VS. LIAM SMITH (29-2-1, 16 KOs)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNN0ln8hFVQ

  • When: Friday, May 7
  • Where: Ekaterinburg, Russia
  • TV/Stream: ESPN+
  • Division: Junior middleweight
  • At stake: No titles
  • Pound-for-pound ranking: None
  • Odds: Even
  • Also on the card: Eduard Skavynskyi vs. TBA, welterweights; Evgenii Liashkov vs. Mukhammad Shekhov, junior featherweights
  • Prediction: Kurbanov UD
  • Background: Kurbanov faces his toughest test against the veteran Smith. The 25-year-old prospect from Russia is a capable boxer-puncher who has been fighting in scheduled 10-rounders most of his career. He last fought this past November, when he stopped journeyman Dmitry Mikhaylenko in two rounds. His unanimous-decision victory over Diego Chavez in November 2019 might’ve been the most significant of his career. Kurbanov will be fighting Smith in his hometown of Ekaterinburg. Smith, a former 154-pound titleholder, had fought at 160 in his past two fights but is moving back down to pursue another title shot. The 32-year-old Liverpudlian is 3-0 since he lost a wide decision to then-junior middleweight titleholder Jaime Munguia, including a one-sided decision over Roberto Garcia in December 2019. That was his most-recent fight, meaning he will have been out of the ring for 17 months.

***

CANELO ALVAREZ (55-1-2, 37 KOs) VS.
BILLY JOE SAUNDERS (30-0, 14 KOs)

[mm-video type=video id=01f4sz8d39e8z1pj4njb playlist_id=none player_id=none image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01f4sz8d39e8z1pj4njb/01f4sz8d39e8z1pj4njb-d7969efccfefb7f2b315286972321a21.jpg]

  • When: Saturday, May 8
  • Where: AT&T Stadium, Arlington, Texas
  • TV/Stream: DAZN
  • Division: Super middleweight
  • At stake: Alvarez’s WBA and WBC, and Saunders WBO titles
  • Pound-for-pound ranking: Alvarez No. 2
  • Odds: Alvarez 6-1 favorite (BetMGM)
  • Also on the card: Elwin Soto vs. Katsunari Takayama, junior flyweights (for Soto’s WBO title); Kieron Conway vs. Souleymane Cissokho, junior middleweights; Frank Sanchez vs. Nagy Aguilera, heavyweights
  • Prediction: Alvarez KO 10
  • Background: Alvarez has said he wants to unify all four major 168-pound titles after winning two of them by easily outpointing Callum Smith this past December. A victory over the underdog Saunders would give him three pieces and set up a showdown for the undisputed championship against IBF titleholder Caleb Plant in September. The 30-year-old Mexican star last fought on Feb. 27, when he stopped overmatched mandatory challenger Avni Yildirim in three rounds. Thus, he will have been out of the ring for only 2½ months. Alvarez is 13-0-1 since he lost a wide decision to Floyd Mayweather in 2013, a period in which he has climbed to top of some pound-for-pound lists. Alvarez is 6-0 against British fighters. Saunders, 31, is a polished boxer with limited power who has won major titles in two divisions. He won his super middleweight belt by easily outpointing Shefat Isufi in May 2019 and has successfully defended twice. He stopped Marcelo Coceres in 11 rounds to win what had been a close fight in November 2019 and nearly shut out veteran Martin Murray this past December. Saunders has some notable victories – Chris Eubank Jr., Andy Lee, Willie Monroe Jr., David Lemieux and Murray – but he has never tangled with anyone near Alvarez’s ability.

[lawrence-related id=19945,19777,19687,19685,19417,18298]

***

Also fighting this weekend: Junior lightweight Gadwin Rosa (11-1, 9 KOs) of Puerto Rico faces fellow prospect George Acosta of the Los Angeles in a scheduled 10-round bout in Kissimmee, Fla. on Telemundo.

 

Fight Week: Canelo Alvarez and Billy Joe Saunders ready to rumble

FIGHT WEEK canelo alvarez and billy joe saunders are set to unify three of the four major 168-pound titles saturday at the dallas cowboys’ home stadium. *** MAGOMED KURBANOV (21-0, 13 KOs) VS. LIAM SMITH (29-2-1, 16 KOs) When : Friday, May 7 Where : …

FIGHT WEEK

canelo alvarez and billy joe saunders are set to unify three of the four major 168-pound titles saturday at the dallas cowboys’ home stadium.

***

MAGOMED KURBANOV (21-0, 13 KOs)
VS. LIAM SMITH (29-2-1, 16 KOs)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNN0ln8hFVQ

  • When: Friday, May 7
  • Where: Ekaterinburg, Russia
  • TV/Stream: ESPN+
  • Division: Junior middleweight
  • At stake: No titles
  • Pound-for-pound ranking: None
  • Odds: Even
  • Also on the card: Eduard Skavynskyi vs. TBA, welterweights; Evgenii Liashkov vs. Mukhammad Shekhov, junior featherweights
  • Prediction: Kurbanov UD
  • Background: Kurbanov faces his toughest test against the veteran Smith. The 25-year-old prospect from Russia is a capable boxer-puncher who has been fighting in scheduled 10-rounders most of his career. He last fought this past November, when he stopped journeyman Dmitry Mikhaylenko in two rounds. His unanimous-decision victory over Diego Chavez in November 2019 might’ve been the most significant of his career. Kurbanov will be fighting Smith in his hometown of Ekaterinburg. Smith, a former 154-pound titleholder, had fought at 160 in his past two fights but is moving back down to pursue another title shot. The 32-year-old Liverpudlian is 3-0 since he lost a wide decision to then-junior middleweight titleholder Jaime Munguia, including a one-sided decision over Roberto Garcia in December 2019. That was his most-recent fight, meaning he will have been out of the ring for 17 months.

***

CANELO ALVAREZ (55-1-2, 37 KOs) VS.
BILLY JOE SAUNDERS (30-0, 14 KOs)

[mm-video type=video id=01f4sz8d39e8z1pj4njb playlist_id=none player_id=none image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01f4sz8d39e8z1pj4njb/01f4sz8d39e8z1pj4njb-d7969efccfefb7f2b315286972321a21.jpg]

  • When: Saturday, May 8
  • Where: AT&T Stadium, Arlington, Texas
  • TV/Stream: DAZN
  • Division: Super middleweight
  • At stake: Alvarez’s WBA and WBC, and Saunders WBO titles
  • Pound-for-pound ranking: Alvarez No. 2
  • Odds: Alvarez 6-1 favorite (BetMGM)
  • Also on the card: Elwin Soto vs. Katsunari Takayama, junior flyweights (for Soto’s WBO title); Kieron Conway vs. Souleymane Cissokho, junior middleweights; Frank Sanchez vs. Nagy Aguilera, heavyweights
  • Prediction: Alvarez KO 10
  • Background: Alvarez has said he wants to unify all four major 168-pound titles after winning two of them by easily outpointing Callum Smith this past December. A victory over the underdog Saunders would give him three pieces and set up a showdown for the undisputed championship against IBF titleholder Caleb Plant in September. The 30-year-old Mexican star last fought on Feb. 27, when he stopped overmatched mandatory challenger Avni Yildirim in three rounds. Thus, he will have been out of the ring for only 2½ months. Alvarez is 13-0-1 since he lost a wide decision to Floyd Mayweather in 2013, a period in which he has climbed to top of some pound-for-pound lists. Alvarez is 6-0 against British fighters. Saunders, 31, is a polished boxer with limited power who has won major titles in two divisions. He won his super middleweight belt by easily outpointing Shefat Isufi in May 2019 and has successfully defended twice. He stopped Marcelo Coceres in 11 rounds to win what had been a close fight in November 2019 and nearly shut out veteran Martin Murray this past December. Saunders has some notable victories – Chris Eubank Jr., Andy Lee, Willie Monroe Jr., David Lemieux and Murray – but he has never tangled with anyone near Alvarez’s ability.

[lawrence-related id=19945,19777,19687,19685,19417,18298]

***

Also fighting this weekend: Junior lightweight Gadwin Rosa (11-1, 9 KOs) of Puerto Rico faces fellow prospect George Acosta of the Los Angeles in a scheduled 10-round bout in Kissimmee, Fla. on Telemundo.

 

Canelo Alvarez has a habit of beating up on British opponents

Canelo Alvarez has a habit of beating up on British opponents.

Forgive British boxing fans if they dread the thought of Canelo Alvarez.

The Mexican star’s victory over Callum Smith in December pushed his record to 6-0 against opponents from the U.K. in what we call his elite period, which started with his first fight at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, against Jose Miguel Cotto.

That made British fighters Alvarez’s primary victims. The Mexican star is 5-1 against Americans as an elite fighter, with the one setback coming against Floyd Mayweather.

And Alvarez (55-1-2, 37 KOs) isn’t necessarily finished picking on the Brits: He’s a 6-1 favorite to defeat Billy Joe Saunders in their 168-pound title-unification fight Saturday at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas (DAZN).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ir5bdnoUAKg&t=28s

He will probably run his record against U.K. fighters to 7-0 and counting, meaning fully one quarter of the beaten men he has left in his wake during the elite period will have been British.

And as if that isn’t bad enough, none of the previous six fights were competitive. Here is a quick look at each of them:

  • Matthew Hatton, UD (2011): The brother of Ricky Hatton lost every round on all three cards.
  • Ryan Rhodes, TKO 12 (2011): Rhodes was overmatched before he was finally stopped in the final round.
  • Amir Khan, KO 6 (2016): Khan held his own before the inevitable happened. A huge right hand ended the fight instantly.
  • Liam Smith, KO 9 (2016): Smith went down three times before he was stopped by a body shot.
  • Rocky Fielding, TKO 3 (2018): Fielding hit the canvas four times in an utter mismatch.
  • Callum Smith, UD (2020): Smith, Liam’s brother, won one round on two cards and (somehow) three on the third.

Saunders (30-0, 14 KOs) is confident he will buck the trend.

“I’m the seventh Brit he’s faced,” he told talkSPORT. “He’s dealt with six of them very comfortably. The Brits like dancing and moving and thinking they’ve gotta run away, but I will be there for him to hit. I will be in range for him to hit.

“I’ll be setting traps, the same as he’ll be setting traps. I don’t think running a million miles an hour is gonna do me any justice. … He’s not got the best engine in the world, Canelo. He’s very good at what he does, extremely good at what he does, but there’s faults there.

“We’ve seen people try to run away and box him, we’ve seen people try to use the brawn, but we’ve only seen one man use his brain and that was Floyd Mayweather. Brain over brawn here. Brain wins this, technical thinking wins this.”

Mexico (23) and the U.S. (12) are Alvarez’s Nos. 1 and 2 most-victimized countries if you count everyone he’s faced in his 58 pro fights. He fought mostly his countrymen and neighbors to the north as he developed into an elite fighter.

***

Here are two lists. One, the countries of opponents in each of his 58 fights, including the loss to Mayweather and a draw with Kazakhstani Gennadiy Golovkin in their first fight. And, two, the countries of his opponents during his 26-fight elite period. Alvarez’s record against each nation is included.

OVERALL (58 fights)

  • 23 Mexico (22-0-1)
  • 12 U.S. (11-1)
  • 6 U.K. (6-0)
  • 4 Argentina (4-0)
  • 3 Puerto Rico (3-0)
  • 2 Kazakhstan (1-0-1)
  • 2 Russia (2-0)
  • 1 Brazil (1-0)
  • 1 Cuba (1-0)
  • 1 Colombia (1-0)
  • 1 Dominican Republic (1-0)
  • 1 South Africa (1-0)
  • 1 Turkey (1-0)

ELITE PERIOD (26 fights)

  • 6 U.K. (6-0)
  • 6 U.S. (5-1)
  • 3 Mexico (3-0)
  • 3 Puerto Rico (3-0)
  • 2 Argentina (2-0)
  • 2 Kazakhstan (1-0-1)
  • 1 Cuba (1-0)
  • 1 Russia (1-0)
  • 1 South Africa (1-0)
  • 1 Turkey (1-0)

[lawrence-related id=19687,19685,19417,18298,18296,18248]

Canelo Alvarez has a habit of beating up on British opponents

Canelo Alvarez has a habit of beating up on British opponents.

Forgive British boxing fans if they dread the thought of Canelo Alvarez.

The Mexican star’s victory over Callum Smith in December pushed his record to 6-0 against opponents from the U.K. in what we call his elite period, which started with his first fight at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, against Jose Miguel Cotto.

That made British fighters Alvarez’s primary victims. The Mexican star is 5-1 against Americans as an elite fighter, with the one setback coming against Floyd Mayweather.

And Alvarez (55-1-2, 37 KOs) isn’t necessarily finished picking on the Brits: He’s a 6-1 favorite to defeat Billy Joe Saunders in their 168-pound title-unification fight Saturday at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas (DAZN).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ir5bdnoUAKg&t=28s

He will probably run his record against U.K. fighters to 7-0 and counting, meaning fully one quarter of the beaten men he has left in his wake during the elite period will have been British.

And as if that isn’t bad enough, none of the previous six fights were competitive. Here is a quick look at each of them:

  • Matthew Hatton, UD (2011): The brother of Ricky Hatton lost every round on all three cards.
  • Ryan Rhodes, TKO 12 (2011): Rhodes was overmatched before he was finally stopped in the final round.
  • Amir Khan, KO 6 (2016): Khan held his own before the inevitable happened. A huge right hand ended the fight instantly.
  • Liam Smith, KO 9 (2016): Smith went down three times before he was stopped by a body shot.
  • Rocky Fielding, TKO 3 (2018): Fielding hit the canvas four times in an utter mismatch.
  • Callum Smith, UD (2020): Smith, Liam’s brother, won one round on two cards and (somehow) three on the third.

Saunders (30-0, 14 KOs) is confident he will buck the trend.

“I’m the seventh Brit he’s faced,” he told talkSPORT. “He’s dealt with six of them very comfortably. The Brits like dancing and moving and thinking they’ve gotta run away, but I will be there for him to hit. I will be in range for him to hit.

“I’ll be setting traps, the same as he’ll be setting traps. I don’t think running a million miles an hour is gonna do me any justice. … He’s not got the best engine in the world, Canelo. He’s very good at what he does, extremely good at what he does, but there’s faults there.

“We’ve seen people try to run away and box him, we’ve seen people try to use the brawn, but we’ve only seen one man use his brain and that was Floyd Mayweather. Brain over brawn here. Brain wins this, technical thinking wins this.”

Mexico (23) and the U.S. (12) are Alvarez’s Nos. 1 and 2 most-victimized countries if you count everyone he’s faced in his 58 pro fights. He fought mostly his countrymen and neighbors to the north as he developed into an elite fighter.

***

Here are two lists. One, the countries of opponents in each of his 58 fights, including the loss to Mayweather and a draw with Kazakhstani Gennadiy Golovkin in their first fight. And, two, the countries of his opponents during his 26-fight elite period. Alvarez’s record against each nation is included.

OVERALL (58 fights)

  • 23 Mexico (22-0-1)
  • 12 U.S. (11-1)
  • 6 U.K. (6-0)
  • 4 Argentina (4-0)
  • 3 Puerto Rico (3-0)
  • 2 Kazakhstan (1-0-1)
  • 2 Russia (2-0)
  • 1 Brazil (1-0)
  • 1 Cuba (1-0)
  • 1 Colombia (1-0)
  • 1 Dominican Republic (1-0)
  • 1 South Africa (1-0)
  • 1 Turkey (1-0)

ELITE PERIOD (26 fights)

  • 6 U.K. (6-0)
  • 6 U.S. (5-1)
  • 3 Mexico (3-0)
  • 3 Puerto Rico (3-0)
  • 2 Argentina (2-0)
  • 2 Kazakhstan (1-0-1)
  • 1 Cuba (1-0)
  • 1 Russia (1-0)
  • 1 South Africa (1-0)
  • 1 Turkey (1-0)

[lawrence-related id=19687,19685,19417,18298,18296,18248]

Billy Joe Saunders leery of Canelo Alvarez’s power, yet confident

Billy Joe Saunders is leery of Canelo Alvarez’s power yet confident he will beat the Mexican star on May 8.

Canelo Alvarez has a lot of weapons to throw at his opponents. The most striking might be his power, which has produced 37 knockouts in his 15-year career.

That’s no secret to Billy Joe Saunders, who is scheduled to face the Mexican star in a super middleweight title-unification bout on May 8 at AT&T Stadium – home of the Dallas Cowboys — in Arlington, Texas (DAZN).

The British fighter, known for his skills and nimbleness, was reminded that Alvarez had some trouble against movers like Erislandy Lara and Auston Trout but didn’t buy into the notion.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gY7HXkqj588

“Well, they didn’t win, did they?” Saunders said during an ‘E-presser’ to promote the fight. “So I don’t think movement is key. Sure, it helps. Being clever, where you move is more key in this fight.

“I think my movement helps me because if one of them bombs is coming, I need to move out of the way. So obviously it helps.”

Don’t get the wrong idea, though. Saunders (30-0, 14 KOs) is an undefeated champion who has been fighting most of his life. He’s not afraid of any fighter, including Alvarez (55-1-2, 37 KOs).

“I respect every fighter who gets into the ring,” he said. “I have to respect them because their lives are put on the line but as humans we’re all one. I don’t put myself beneath or on top of anyone.

“I respect [Alvarez] as a fighter but that’s as far as it gets. I respect everyone.”

Saunders would argue that he’s not getting the respect he deserves. He’s irked that promoter Eddie Hearn is openly planning for Alvarez to face Caleb Plant to unify all four titles in September.

Hearn, who conducted the “E-presser” interviews, asked Saunders how confident he is that he will play the spoiler.

“Only yourself, Eddie, is talking about that fight and Canelo’s camp. So you tell me more,” Saunders said. “I’ll be looking to put a spanner in the works for that that same as I did with previous champions when they’re talking about other fights.

“They’ve got to beat me first.”

[lawrence-related id=19685,19417,18419,18364,18298]