Saul Alvarez Vs Billy Joe Saumders

This was expected by many boxing experts to be a one sided affair in favour of Saul Canelo Alvarez but it turned out to be anything but, as Billy Joe Saunders made it an awkward, cagey fight, using his ring craft and footwork to cause all sorts of problems for Canelo.

Both men came to the ring with a lot to lose, both were current and reigning world champions, with Saunders in danger of losing his undefeated record and holding the lesser established WBO version of the title and Alvarez holding both the WBC and WBA versions of the world title and his dream of unifying all four titles and becoming the first mexican fighter in history to hold all four belts in any division hanging in the balance.

The fight started slowly with both fighters feeling each other out in the first round, feinting, testing his opponents defences and reflexes trying to get a grasp on the others timing, it was a 50/50 round and could be argued in either fighters favour. The first real meaningful clash didnt come about until the second round with Alvarez coming out on top in an other wise slow bout. The third, forth and fifth went the same way, they were close but Alvarez had built an early lead and seemed to be taking control of the fight, but by the seventh Saunders had stop the tide and clawed his way back in to the fight, he seemed to be finding a rhythm that was giving Alvarez a lot of trouble.

Every round was close and the pundits could'nt agree on who was winning, one had it in favour of saunders, another had it for Canelo and another couldnt split them and had it a draw. It would be risky to let it go to the scorecards, but Canelo caught Saunders with a perfectly timed uppercut that Saunders leaned into. HIs left eye was badly damaged and his corner felt he could not contimue, they threw in the towel. WIn for Canelo, at the time of the stoppage the judges had the fight favourably for Canelo but many at ring side viewed the bout differently.