Posted on 04/20/2021
By: Hans Themistode
For as long as Billy Joe Saunders has been around, the WBO super middleweight world champion has been loquacious. Yet, with the biggest fight of his life coming up rather quickly against unified titlist Canelo Alvarez, Saunders has been most been mostly quiet.
Rather than continue to egg Alvarez (55-1-2, 37 KOs) on, Saunders has chosen to put his head down and work hard in the gym. But while he has done exactly that, he’s noticed something fishy going on behind the scenes.
Long before the ink was dry on his contract to face Alvarez, promoter Eddie Hearn has discussed what’s next for the Mexican product. In all likelihood, an undisputed title fight against IBF champion, Caleb Plant. While fans of the sport were thrilled to hear the news, Saunders (30-0, 14 KOs) has been left annoyed with all of the talk, and more importantly, he can’t understand why certain things he was promised have now changed.
“It’s a bit disappointing,” said Saunders during an interview with IFL TV. “He’s already planning venues for the Caleb Plant fight. F*ck the money, f*ck everything, I’m here to win. I did this deal under the basis of an English judge, an American judge, and a Mexican judge. When he came here the other day, he said there’s no English judge allowed. That’s unacceptable. That’s not a level playing field straight away but it is what it is. I’ve been very quiet but I’m not blind.”
Despite being thrilled with landing the opportunity to face Alvarez, Saunders has been watching carefully at what’s been going on. Throughout the career of the pound-for-pound star, Saunders has accused him of being on the right side of favorable judging. Now, with Saunders realizing that things could go against him, he views the entire situation as not only typical but also flat-out bull sh*t.
“I’m a straight man, if your my friend then your my friend and I would never do a friend wrong. When it comes to business I’m a very, very straight businessman and I stick to my word. If I signed on to fight for that basis but it changes, then it changes but it’s a whole load of bullocks.”
Favorable judging has been a constant theme during the career of Alvarez. Close showdowns against Austin Trout, Erislandy Lara and back-to-back contests against Gennadiy Golovkin all ended in favor of Alvarez. With Hearn continuing to plan the future of the Mexican product, Saunders is irate with the entire ordeal. With that said, he has a few plans of his own.
“When it comes to people making plans before this plan is over, it’s fixed already and the result is already made. We know there’s a lot of corruption in boxing but I can shatter all of those plans.”