BECAUSE boxing is a superstar-driven sport, it’s always a beautiful day when its flagship fighter struts his wares.
And today, it’s made all the more beautiful because Saul “Canelo” Alvarez faces off against an opponent who has a legitimate chance to defeat him or at least make it look good while it lasts.
Here are our three possible scenarios for the super middleweight unification bout between Saul (55-1, 37 KOs) and Billy Joe Saunders (30-0, 14 KOs).
FIRST. Saunders comes out firing off jabs from a southpaw stance. Alvarez answers with counter-jabs of his own. The former seems to have edged the earlier rounds.
In the middle rounds, Alvarez starts landing more telling shots to the body. Saunders slowed down by the eighth round and is clinching more in the 10th round.
Canelo owns the championship rounds, pummeling his opponent along the ropes. And on the 11th, Saunders is forced to take a knee, seeking respite from all the bombardment
Saunders tries to give a good account of himself in the 12th, but Canelo is more aggressive and lands the stronger blows. Judges reward Alvarez with a well-deserved unanimous decision verdict.
SECOND. The first few rounds are close with both fighters feeling each other out.
Alvarez changes tactics in the middle rounds and tries to take the fight to Saunders. The latter seems to have anticipated this quite well and cleverly tries to tie up Canelo.
This results in an ugly unwatchable clinch-fest in the middle rounds and the crowd voices out its displeasure with some boos and jeers.
Not that Saunders cares anyway, as he continues to smother Alvarez’s offense which proves to be effective. The latter gets frustrated and hits Saunders with a low blow in the ninth.
It proves to be costly as the championship rounds are close; one-point deduction is pivotal. Judges score a majority draw.
THIRD. Alvarez comes out aggressive and immediately gets to work. Saunders tries to move around, and jab, but Canelo effectively cuts the ring off, landing some hooks that stagger Saunders.
Saunders seems to recover his composure and wins sixth and seventh rounds by leveraging his reach advantage and catching Canelo coming in. However, this would prove to be short-lived as Canelo lands a monster right hand in the eighth.
Saunders is out before he goes down and the ref doesn’t even count. He takes one horrified look at the fallen fighter and immediately calls for the denouement of the fight.
VERBATIM. “Thirty and O and unbeaten, so therefore, he has to do something differently to beat me. Not the other way around.” —Billy Joe Saunders (www.skysports.com)
LAST ROUND. It’s on my pretty inaanak, Amanda Castellano Ostrea, who turns 13 this week. Cheers and Happy Birthday!