Canelo Álvarez vs. Billy Joe Saunders Breakdown: Wrong Turn
Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images
Well, another Brit, another defeat.
Mexican superstar Saúl Álvarez continues his domination of fighters from the Sceptered Isles; now that Billy Joe Saunders - proudly sporting the Romani flag denoting his heritage on his shorts - has fallen, that makes six denizens of the UK that have tried and failed to conquer Canelo, the cinnamon phenom.
That said, Saunders achieved, in some small measure, something that Matthew Hatton, Amir Khan, Liam Smith, Rocky Fielding and Callum Smith didn’t quite - he made Canelo have to work. Just a little bit.
Now, let’s get this straight at the outset; this was neither as easy as some - this writer included - thought it might be, nor as close as some boxing commentators appeared to have it at the time of the stoppage (the DAZN comms team having scores ranging from BJS winning going into the eighth to being only one or two down was farcical).
There were two main narratives heading into this fight; that Canelo struggles with southpaws, and that Saunders is a slick enough defensive mover that he could feasibly frustrate Canelo’s steadfast-but-not-lightning-quick pressure.
The problem with these assertions is two-fold; Canelo has faced nary an effective southpaw since slick Cuban Erislandy Lara in 2014,
And Canelo’s issues with savvy range defence have been so effectively addressed since Mayweather, as The Fight Site’s own boxing team commented pre-fight, that it was hard to assert that the southpaw issue was an issue at all either.
Turns out, it wasn’t.
The range defence was a different thing, but only once BJS seemed to remember a simple facet about the fight.
Having argued vociferously for a 22-foot ring pre-fight, he began the bout as if he’d forgotten he’d got his wish.
Now, the idea that BJS is a slick defensive mover isn’t false; when he turns up in-shape and mentally prepared can be very hard to hit, once he has a measure of opponent’s distance and timing.
But against Canelo, he sometimes moved as if he had very little room for manouevre; despite doing a very good job of not getting caught on the ropes throughout, he sometimes acted as if he didn’t have enough room to escape safely out behind himself.
He would occasionally enter the pocket, launch an attack and duck into a pivot at close quarters, trying to back out around a tight corner.
Problem was, Canelo had a read on this from the get-go, and would simply track Saunders’ movement and bean him to the body or head as he was bent over.
What’s more, Canelo’s superior power and handspeed were telling in the early stages, and without an effective counter to Canelo’s thudding, sniping shots, Saunders was beginning to look hesitant and one dimensional, biting on feints and staying mainly defensive.
And to add to BJS’s problems, without an offensive relief of his own, Canelo was winning the footwork battle, getting his lead foot to the outside, pushing Saunders closer to the dreaded ropes, and cutting off the traditional southpaw escape angle.
Then, somewhere between rounds four and five, Saunders remembered the courtyard he’d managed to negotiate for himself to fight in, and changed his defensive habits slightly.
His own jab became more active, occupying Canelo’s guard somewhat more, but he also made his defensive moves less acute; he exited interactions at a less extreme angle and more upright, stopped trying to pivot out around Canelo’s hips, allowing himself a bit more distance and keeping his eyes on Canelo, and as a result, Canelo began to miss a little more.
Thus, he visibly began to relax a little.
So while in the earlier rounds, Canelo was having little trouble landing the intercepting left hook to the body as Saunders tried to circle out, now it was trickier. Saunders was even finding the wherewithal to counter it;
… and not only that, he was beginning to have some success in backing Canelo off, and tracking him with shots in combination.
While BJS’s lack of firepower was evident he was finally making Canelo think about mitigation as well as pure offence.
His outside movement improved too, with Canelo being made to miss on shots that early rounds saw him landing.
And as Saunders’ confidence grew, so did his options up close; he grew increasingly crafty.
He displayed some relatively decent inside craft; notably matching Canelo’s strength in the clinch, on at least one occasion enacted a clinch break and caught Álvarez with a decent clobber on the way out:
And he even found it within himself to counter in the pocket too. Here, Canelo goes for his now standard intercepting left hook, but instead of ducking down and trying to shift out, BJS stays in the pocket and counters twice;
It’s within these rounds - five, six and seven - where BJS did by far his best work, and where it’s easiest to score a couple rounds for him. To this writer’s eyes, he won rounds five and seven.
So heading into the eighth stanza, BJS was in something of a purple patch; his output was up, he’d become more elusive and he’d begun turning Canelo a little more effectively.
But, just as it seemed he was settling into his fight, Saunders once again tried a lead hook into a tight pivot, and the ginger predator was waiting.
As soon as BJS turned and dipped into his early defensive move, he was met with a monster counter-uppercut which visibly caved his cheek in, and the fight, although it continued for the rest of the round, was done from there.
It should be noted; for all of Saunders’ increased success, Canelo never rushed, panicked or got flustered; he is nothing if not methodical as a fighter, and relentless.
When BJS made him miss, he reset, no fuss. When BJS turned, he turned with him, if BJS skated across the ring, Canelo generally kept up with him, or managed to cut off even this enourmous ring.
When BJS threw, his hands were always up, unlike Saunders, and he often had a counter ready. His straight hitting remained effective throughout (he only ever threw his straight right when definitely in range, and it rarely missed).
He kept stepping, feinting, probing, reading, cutting off and anticipating.
And most importantly, he never took his eyes off his opponent, and as soon as Saunders revisited his earlier mistakes, he was ready.
And with one massive uppercut, he broke Billie Joe Saunders’ cheek along with his will to fight, and another proved another Brit wrong for turning into his territory.