A duel with 73 thousand spectators.
The fight between Canelo and Saunders was expected due to the opposition of styles. Infighters like Saul are a priori more difficult to fight with mobile opponents, who, after each attack, shift, leave and do not give an open fight.
After losing the second, third and fourth rounds (the first can still be given to the Briton), when Billy Joe moved more than attacked, Saunders took aim, felt the distance and began to act more actively. He got his opponent from a distance and won several episodes in close combat. In response, Saul punched with power to the body, but quantitatively and qualitatively he was worse than his opponent.
As soon as Alvarez fans got worried, Canelo dropped all questions. At first he increased the pressure, and began to get his opponent more often. And from the sixth round he was aiming for a right uppercut. Saul’s coach Eddie Reinoso noticed that the left-hander Saunders, defending the body, often goes under the ward’s shock arm.
In the eighth round, the plan worked – Canelo first caught his opponent with the same blow:
And then he drove around the ring for another round, supported by the stands. During the break, the corner removed the Briton from the fight. Most likely, his orbital bone is broken – after the battle, Saunders was immediately taken to the hospital.
At the time of the stop, the Mexican was leading on the judges’ notes: 77-75 and 78-74 twice. The two judges saw Billy Joe win only in the first and fifth rounds. One more – in the first, fifth and seventh.
Now Alvarez has only one super middleweight belt left to take – according to the IBF version, which is owned by Caleb Plant. By the way, Teofimo Lopez called the American the only real threat to Saul. Although before the fight with Saunders, many also talked about Billy Joe.
“We spoke with their team. This is a fight that must take place next. It’s about fighting for the title of absolute champion. What else is Caleb Plant going to do? ” – said Eddie Hearn after the fight.
There were not so many absolute champions in the history of Mexico. From the moment that four belts had to be collected for this status, no Mexican became an absolute. And in the entire history of Mexican absolute champions there were two – Vicente Saldivar (up to 57.1 kg) and Rafael Herrera (up to 53.5 kg). Both became them when it was enough to have two belts – WBA and WBC.
The stands were also noted, and twice. Firstly, 73 126 people were present at the fight. For the first time since the start of the pandemic, so many people have come to boxing.
Secondly, there was a fight again in the arena. A week ago, right during the match Ruiz – Arreola fought several times in the stands. Now it was a little calmer – only one collision, but with the participation of Saunders’ team. The guys from the corner of Billy Joe took part or tried to separate it from the video is incomprehensible, but Tyson Fury, who watched everything a meter from the events, should know for sure:
After the fight, Canelo also greeted Julio Cesar Chavez, whose son Saul beat in 2017:
And a big family. Alvarez has six brothers and a sister, so it didn’t work to get to his daughter right away:
In 2018, Alvarez rescued his kidnapped brother. As a child, Saul himself was almost stolen right on the street.