ARLINGTON, Texas – Tyson Fury knows exactly what it takes to enter a stadium full of your opponent’s fans and out-box a favored champion.
Fury did just that the night he upset Wladimir Klitschko in their heavyweight title fight nearly 5½ years ago at ESPRIT Arena in Dusseldorf, Germany. England’s Fury beat Ukraine’s Klitschko by unanimous decision in their 12-rounder to win the IBF, IBO, WBA and WBO titles.
The WBC champion has motivated his close friend, Billy Joe Saunders, to accomplish something similar Saturday night. Saunders, like Fury, is undefeated, yet Canelo Alvarez is a 7-1 favorite to defeat the British southpaw in their 12-round super middleweight title unification fight.
Fury is biased, of course, but he predicted another upset after Alvarez and Saunders made weight Friday outside of AT&T Stadium.
“You’re gonna see an [absolute] boxing master class from Billy Joe Saunders,” Fury told DAZN’s Todd Grisham, “and he’s gonna win a unanimous decision over 12 rounds.”
Inconsistency has plagued Saunders during his 12-year pro career, but the 2008 Olympian dominated David Lemieux the last time he traveled to enemy territory to fight a dangerous puncher. Mexico’s Alvarez obviously is a more complete fighter than Montreal’s Lemieux, but Saunders masterfully out-boxed and frustrated Lemieux in their 12-round fight for Saunders’ WBO middleweight title in December 2017 at Place Bell in Laval, Quebec, Canada.
Fury is confident Saunders can perform comparably versus Alvarez (55-1-2, 37 KOs), who owns the WBA and WBC super middleweight titles. The brash Brit also has said Alvarez will be surprised by Saunders’ power, despite that the two-division champion hasn’t won even half of his bouts by knockout (30-0, 14 KOs).
“There’s a lot of gypsy magic in the air,” Fury said. “Billy Joe’s on form. He’s looking in great shape, best I’ve ever seen him. There’s gonna be a real good fight on [Saturday] night. Cannot wait. So happy to be here in Texas, with all these great boxing fans. It’s gonna be a real good fight. Really looking forward to it.”
A decidedly pro-Alvarez crowd of approximately 70,000 is expected Saturday night at the home stadium of the Dallas Cowboys.
Fury (30-0-1, 21 KOs) has declined to discuss the possibility of his own title unification fight against Anthony Joshua (24-1, 22 KOs) since he arrived here to support Saunders earlier this week. He instead spent some of Friday afternoon mingling with Alvarez’s fans at the weigh-in, where he made it clear that he, not Alvarez, is the best boxer in the world.
“I don’t know about pound-for-pound, but I know I’m the best fighter that’s ever lived,” Fury said. “Never mind pound-for-pound, the best looking, the best talker, the best dressed, best everything.”
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.