Saunders is one of the most overrated fighters I’ve ever seen. Plus he proved that he was all talk. He claimed he would make a deal with god to win the fight and then die the next day. Yet as soon as things got tough, he quit.
In the early rounds it was Saunders who was missing most of his shots. At some point I think Canelo made the decision to stop slipping all of Saunder's punches because they weren't hurting him at all. In fact, it seemed Saunders was too scared to sit down on the jab, he basically did a love tap and GTFO before the counter came. And when that counter claim, it was timed perfectly when Saunders tried to do a slick duck below the waist move. Seems the real better boxer with the higher IQ was Canelo this whole time.
That's the problem, isn't it? Suddenly this smaller fighter comes up to higher divisions and is walking through everything and smashing other top fighters. He's not just outboxing them. He's also keeping his power until late into the fight despite clearly relying on very explosive movements to generate it (because he's small), which should fatigue. It's all a little too easy. Remember when Froch fought Groves and mentioned that a lot of steam went out of Groves power shots in the second half, so they weren't bothering him the same and thus he could grind him down? That's what happens in Nature when you are relying on explosive movement for your power, not just size and leverage. As far as scoring shots, though, Saunders was landing more in the mid rounds as Compubox shows. But when you're now a wrecking ball despite being smaller than everyone you fight, it doesn't matter. Btw, the argument ''everyone is on PEDs'' is so ridiculous. Firstly, they're not all on PEDs. And secondly, there are different orders of magnitude. Not all are the same quality or in the same quantity. So people need to stop pretending the playing field is equal between a PED user with massive money backing and some guy on the cheap without access to the best on offer and better protection.
Canelo was doing well by going to the body. He did follow him a bit too much but it did seem when he wanted to end the fight he did. Saunders was trying to survive. He knew as soon as he got hit clean he'd have to try to make it out alive.
Absolutely. Canelo was in clear control of the fight. Jabbing and moving is only good if you are landing and following up that jab. Saunders didn't want to take risks. Suddenly? As if Canelo has not been working non stop for years to get bigger, He was a BIG 147 when he was 19. He;s 30 now, hhe works out for a living. Of course he's gonna get big. He also has a hell of a chin. This is lazy dude.
I do agree, although I do think Saunders is slippery and talented, and he was making Canelo burn up some energy and set up shots. I don’t think he carried Saunders at all. Saunders was having some success boxing Canelo. I do think he never actually had to go to plan B or shift into another gear. He got the stoppage before having to do that.
Was Saunders ever really 'elite' level though? a novice Eubank Jnr pushed him all the way in the last 4 rounds, back when Saunders was better at 160. Canelo SHOULD be winning these fights, it's not such a big stretch IMO
It's not a stretch at all but people hate Canelo so much they will declare he must have been using steroids, loaded wraps, or something else rather than admit he may be half good at boxing.
The problem is those on PEDs are at advantage, and if you have two fighters of similar ability - one on drugs, the other not - the drug taker has the edge. For all we know the champions are champions BECAUSE they are on PEDs. How can we know any different? How can we know who is clean, who is simply complimenting their training with mild doses, who is on a full programme, and who is roided to the gills to the point they **** radioactive green that melts plastic cups? Until the testing is reliable, and everyone is treated the same, and if you fail a test you are banned for life, how can the sport ever get on top of it?
Yes, maybe "carried" is a little strong...which is why I never really went there in the OP. It's more just a case of Canelo never really getting out of first gear because he had no need to. At no point in that fight did I ever feel Canrlo was going to get hurt, or be worn down. It all seemed a little too easy. That's just one person's opinion looking in from the outside.
Yeah, but IMO he's not even beaten anyone HOF worthy at 168. Golovkin is likely HOF and Canelo couldn't walk through him, so I struggle to see why there is such surprise at these results, or even the manner of them - it's levels. Would anyone make Saunders the favourite to beat Ward, Calzaghe, Froch or Kessler? Based on Saunder's recent fights at 168 and his relative inactivity, why was anyone that surprised at the outcome. Sure, if Canelo was walking through and stopping proven, prime talents at 168 and 175 then folks would have something to argue about, but it's not really like that. In reverse order, here is Canelo's recent resume:- 1) Billy Joe Saunders - proven at 160, but ha looked very poor at 168, and has no real resume. I think Saunders falls short against prime Groves, DeGale and others' that are not even top 20 at 168, let along Zags or SOG. 2) Avni Yildirim - stopped in 3 by Eubank Jnr. A mandatory and "stay active" though, so get's a pass here 3) Callum Smith - sure, he won a very low-quality WBSS but it was tarred by Groves being injured and badly faded IMO. Smith would be stopped by Kessler or Froch IMO. 4) Sergey Kovalev. A shot shell of a fighter that took the money. A clever pick for a name and title by Canelo is all here. The Yarde fight says all that needed to be said about Kov a few months before IMO. 5) Daniel Jacobs - a good win, but note that Alvarez did not walk through Jacobs in any way. Also Jacob's always seems to come up short at the elite level. 6) Rocky Fielding - stopped by Mundo Smith in 1. Another clever 'stay-busy' title grab, little more. 7) Gennady Golovkin - a close, highly controversial SD. Again, against a fellow elite, Canelo has all he could handle. 8) Gennady Golovkin - an even more highly controversial draw that 95% of boxing writers felt should have been a loss. 9) Julio Cesar Chavez Jnr - a punchbag exercise for Canelo really, Chavez was poor, and is not really even world level. 10) Liam Smith - limited european / fringe world level. Beefy gave a decent account, but was obviously out of his league. So that's his last 10 fights - let's say 5 KOs (even though Saunders and Avni were both RTD), and with 3 of those being Kova, Fielding and Smith, I don't see what is so impressive to warrant all the accusations of loaded gloves and roids etc. On paper the Kovalev win seems super-impressive, but context is everything and it doesn't really stand up to scrutiny on many fronts. Take the 2 highly controversial GGG bouts away and it's what folks would be expecting of the P4P No 1 surely?
These are valid points. He couldn't dent GGG (not really) in 24 rounds, Jacobs stayed the full 12, as did Smith, Kovalev lasted a while despite being shot to pieces, so there is some room to suggest Canelo isn't quite as powerful a puncher as he's made out to be.
Yeap too easy. He got caught with 5 stinging shots.....at best.... in the face? Not a mark on him in the post fight presser. he cut off the ring beautifully and smashed a pikey dosser. Losing at worse , by 3rd out of 8. And of course caved BJS head in.
