Reasonable? Shameful?Maybe Both? People Have Thoughts On Saunders Retiring On His Stool

By: Sean Crose

Billy Joe Saunders did very nicely in opposition to Canelo Alvarez throughout their tremendous middleweight title bout final night time in Texas. He moved nicely, he was in a position to make use of his jab, and he even had sufficient confidence to battle along with his palms down. The issue is, combating very nicely simply isn’t adequate when dealing with Canelo. The person simply hits too exhausting, has an excessive amount of skilled persistence, and, frankly, is simply too self assured to be outslicked for lengthy by somebody of Saunders’ degree. The truth that Saunders operates on the prime ranges of the battle sport and, earlier than final night time, had by no means misplaced a match, tells you all that you must find out about simply how good a fighter Canelo has turn out to be.

Now Saunders, a brash, trash speaking Englishman, should face each the bodily and public fallout from his Canelo expedition. As somebody put it on Twitter, Saunders stop on his stool Saturday night time – and nothing can take away from that face. Whereas that’s true, there’s extra to this story than meets the attention (no pun meant). For Saunders’ face was completely demolished by a Canelo uppercut within the eighth spherical. The bodily results of the shot had been instantaneous. To his credit score, Saunders was in a position to survive the spherical – however not get off his stool afterward.

In fact, Saunders is now being taken to process for the choice to not proceed. Right here, in spite of everything, was a fighter who indicated he would die within the technique of making an attempt to win if he couldn’t win outright. Right here, additionally, was a fighter who was publicly vital of Daniel Dubois for “quitting” a battle final yr. Folks, frankly, are discovering it exhausting to not name Saunders a hypocrite after final night time. If he had merely behaved as a gentleman, the logic goes, individuals can be extra empathetic for the person proper now.

That’s an comprehensible argument within the view of many, however it should even be understood that Saunders spent Saturday night time within the hospital and will nicely require no less than one surgical procedure on his wounded face. Canelo says he knew immediately that his thunderous uppercut had carried out actual injury, a lot injury that he informed his nook the battle was over earlier than group Saunders formally known as it an evening. Canelo, in fact, is aware of how good a fighter he’s. And, make no mistake about it, Billy Joe Saunders is aware of how good a fighter Canelo is now, as nicely.