Billy Joe Saunders has given an honest assessment of the punching power of Mexican superstar Canelo Alvarez.
The 35-year-old from England has not fought as a professional since he was defeated by Canelo when they met back in May 2021 at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
Saunders surrendered his WBO super-middleweight that night after he was forced to pull out of the contest at the conclusion of the eighth round, following the Brit being hit with a thunderous uppercut which fractured his eye socket.
Saunders had started the contest positively, but the intense pressure of the Mexican icon proved to be too much for him on the night, in what was unquestionably the toughest test of an impressive run for the two-weight world champion Brit.
In an interview with iFL TV, Saunders praised Canelo for his ability to think ahead and use his exceptional ring IQ against him, but said that he wasn’t ‘shocked’ by the punching power of the Mexican.
“When I was in there, I’d boxed all of my life since I was five, when I was in there, I felt like after six I thought ‘do you know what I can feel him trying to drop the pace with his feints’, I could feel his pace dropping and I thought I was just growing more confidence.
It’s like snooker, you see all the great players, you can pot a ball but they think four, five, six shots ahead, and he let me get away with minor stuff at the beginning and he capitalized on it, I kept going one way and then in the end I sort of got a bit careless because I didn’t find no freaky power, I didn’t find something in there that really shocked me.”
Canelo returns to the ring against IBF super middleweight champion William Scull on May 3, as he bids to become the undisputed champion at 168lbs for a second time in his career.
