Eddie Hearn emphasized that the deal isn’t quite done for a Canelo Alvarez-Billy Joe Saunders fight.
Alvarez’s promoter admitted, though, that they’re “very close to finalizing” contracts for Alvarez and Saunders to meet May 1 or May 8 at a venue to be determined. Hearn also acknowledged that Saunders will be paid a lower purse for facing the Mexican superstar in three months than Saunders would’ve earned had he squared off against Alvarez last May 2.
“Not a great deal of difference,” Hearn said regarding Saunders’ purse in an interview with IFL TV posted to its YouTube page Friday. “It is less. I mean, you know, it’s less for everybody, to be honest with you. But again, you know, we’ll see what happens crowd-wise as well.”
The initial Alvarez-Saunders fight for the British southpaw’s WBO super middleweight title was scrapped due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but Hearn is confident they’ll finally fight this May if Alvarez beats mandatory challenger Avni Yildirim on February 27 at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami.
“Not signed,” Hearn said in reference to contracts for an Alvarez-Saunders bout. “So, you know, we’re just working on a few things. But it’s true that that is the plan. I mean, right now we have a, Matchroom have a two-fight deal with Canelo Alvarez. Obviously, the plan is to try and make the second fight Billy Joe Saunders. That’s the reason he’s gone with us. We have a one-fight deal at the moment with DAZN, which is Avni Yildirim. And we’re working on tying up the second fight of that two-fight deal with Matchroom. So, that will be hopefully Billy Joe Saunders.
“Canelo and [trainer] Eddy Reynoso are just completely focused on Avni Yildirim in Miami on February 27th. And we’ll be working behind the scenes to tie everything up with Billy Joe Saunders, make sure he’s a hundred-percent happy. And then, hopefully, we’ll be in a position maybe even for Billy to go out for that fight and, you know, announce very close to that fight. I don’t see any reason to announce that fight before the Avni Yildirim fight, because until he wins or comes through unscathed, then that fight is not happening with Billy Joe Saunders.”
If the heavily favored Alvarez (54-1-2, 36 KOs) defeats Turkey’s Yildirim (21-2, 12 KOs), the four-division champion would have an opportunity to add a third 168-pound title to his collection when he opposes Saunders (30-0, 14 KOs). The 30-year-old Alvarez won the WBA “super” and WBC super middleweight crowns when he defeated England’s Callum Smith (27-1, 18 KOs) by unanimous decision December 19 at Alamodome in San Antonio.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
