BILLY JOE’S ‘NO’ TO TV BOX SHOW
...but yes to “biggest Brit upset abroad” vs Canelo
BILLY JOE SAUNDERS won’t rule out starring in his own Amir Khan-esque reality TV show after his fight with Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez. But Saunders wanted to be so focused on this Saturday’s fight – the biggest night of his boxing life – that he turned down a bigmoney fly-on-thewall series in the lead-up.
“ITV actually approached me to do something,” said Saunders, who
has been fined by the boxing authorities in the past over some of his behaviour caught on camera.
“They wanted to film me here in Las Vegas, building up to the fight, and then carry on back at home.
“It was a lot of money they offered me as well but I didn’t need the distraction.
“If I am not having my kids around as a nice distraction then how can I have a load of strangers with cameras in my face?
“Maybe afterwards, maybe so, but let’s get this fight out of the way first.”
Saunders clearly has the blinkers on for the battle in Arlington, Texas that will see the Brit’s own
WBO World super-middleweight title on the line alongside Canelo’s WBC World and WBA Super World super-middleweight belts.
It is a tantalising fight that’s divided opinions.
Tyson Fury is adamant his good mate will give Canelo (below) “a boxing lesson”.
But Mike Tyson fancies Canelo within “two rounds”, and Chris Eubank Jr reckons on it being “an execution” – with his great rival Saunders’ head on the block.
Saunders said: “I could get carried away with the people who think I will win.
“But I like to look at the people who think I will lose, that is what gets me going. My last couple of performances, I’ve struggled for that drive of not being the favourite, knowing I need to pull something out of the bag. But this is that sort of fight.”
Asked if beating Canelo would be bigger than Fury’s victory over Wladimir Klitschko in Germany, Saunders said: “It will be up there with all of the great Brit wins abroad.
“If I get beaten fair and square, fair play. But I want to make sure it’s a level playingfield – then it could be up there with the greatest upsets by a Brit on foreign soil.
“I have trained my body to take on an army. No excuses.
“I have been away in camp a long time. Now I just want to enjoy the moment.
“And once I start enjoying the moment, I am a very hard man to beat.”