It’s time to shine now, Saunders
Sin City showdown will be a boxing epic
BILLY JOE SAUNDERS has to win in style tonight to seal a super fight against the winner of the mega middleweight clash between Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin. The WBO champion puts his title on the line against American Willie Monroe Jnr at the Copper Box Arena tonight.
Saunders knows what is at stake and I want him to win in good style.
We have been negotiating with both the Alvarez and Golovkin camps about a unification fight as those two tussle it out for the IBF, WBA and WBC titles in the early hours of tomorrow.
I want Billy Joe to force the issue and make the winner of that fight think, ‘Wow, I have to fight Saunders next’.
There is pressure on Saunders but it is in his own hands now after a tough 20 months since he grabbed the title with a spectacular win over Andy Lee.
He has had so many disappointments but it’s up to him now – he’s got to go do the business. He is really up for it and seems to have matured mentally as well as physically in the last few months working with new trainer Dominic Ingle.
On to the big one from Las Vegas and for a long time I have fancied Golovkin in what is sure to be a classic clash.
Their styles will complement each other and both men are at the peak of their powers.
In the last 17 years I can’t think of a fight bigger than this.
Anthony Joshua’s fight against Wladimir Klitschko was big but, let’s be real, the Ukrainian was well over the hill, while Floyd Mayweather against Manny Pacquiao happened five years too late.
This is a fight of the decade and I think it will be something special. So make sure you tune into BoxNation Box Office.
We have offered our subscribers the fight for free but Sky customers can order it using their remote for £16.95.
You won’t regret it.
GENNADY GOLOVKIN just smiled before he offered a wink when asked if his clash with Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez would be exciting.
As he fielded questions from the world’s media, it was his most telling way of answering: “You know it will be.”
Alvarez also said the encounter, in the early hours of tomorrow morning, could go down in history as one of the greatest-ever bouts.
And the Mexican’s promoter Oscar De La Hoya has promised “eight to nine rounds of hell” for both fighters when the pair go toe-to-toe in the highly-anticipated middleweight fight at the T-Mobile Arena.
There appears no doubt that this will deliver on the pre-fight bluster.
Boxing has a bad habit of shooting itself in the foot when it builds up a fight, but this could be the best in a long time.
The recent eras all have had clashes that people wanted to see and ones that lived up to their billing.
There was the ‘Thrilla in Manilla’ between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier in 1975.
Then was the three-round epic between Marvin Hagler and Thomas from CHRIS McKENNA in Las Vegas Hearns in 1985. And the world wanted Riddick Bowe against Evander Holyfield in 1992 and they delivered, while Erik Morales and Marco Antonio Barrera kicked off their tremendous trilogy in 2000 with a barnstormer.
Floyd Mayweather against Manny Pacquiao was the one this era initially needed.
But it served up a one-sided masterclass from the American that left many disappointed.
Electrified
This can be the one to define this generation and it will settle not only who is the best middleweight on the planet, but possibly the best poundfor-pound fighter.
Golovkin puts his WBA, IBF and WBC titles on the line but they are almost an irrelevance. Talk about what the fighters are earning and who they could face next is minimal.
The only chat on the electrified Strip is about who wins, how and why, as this fight needs nothing but the two men in the ring.
Will Mexico’s Alvarez be big enough, in his first fight at middle- weight, against a knockout artist who has had all 37 fights on his unblemished record at 11st 6lb?
“If Golovkin is too big, then so be it,” said De La Hoya. “This is what Canelo wanted. What boxing needs.
“If Golovkin is the bigger man, then Canelo better step up his game and fight even harder. That is good news for the fans.”
Then there are the doubts over whether Golovkin, at 35, is on the decline after his knockout streak of 23 came to an end in a gruelling points win over Daniel Jacobs in March.
That could mean the faster hands and slightly faster feet of 27-year-old Alvarez, who has lost just once in 51 bouts, could trouble the ageing champion.
“I think second half of the fight, it is much crazy,” Golovkin said.
“Like a street fight, like a bang, bang, no step back.
“The biggest fight is coming, truest fight. I am a boxer and I like to fight. My biggest opponent is coming, very close, and I am excited.”