With two months until his super-middleweight unification bout with Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez, Billy Joe Saunders has a lot of catching up to do if he hopes to be at 100% for the biggest fight of his career so far.
The undefeated Brit puts his WBO title up against Canelo's WBA, WBC and The Ring belts to determine one ruler of almost the entire 168lbs realm on May 8, live across most of the globe on DAZN, with Caleb Plant's IBF title the only major prize not involved in the contest.
Saunders is, by his own admission, still two stone (28lbs) above his optimal weight and currently unable to train due to illness. And anyone who expected him to cover the delay to his camp with a barrage of trash talk about Canelo will be surprised.
"Canelo’s one of the greats," Saunders told DAZN's Chris Mannix in an exclusive interview, while wrapped up warm and still under the weather. "He’s been in there with everybody, he’s heard it all before. So, I can only talk the truth about him, you know what I’m saying?
"I see no weaknesses at all. Not one. He’s the best fighter and I’m one of his biggest fans, if I’m honest. I love watching him. He’s good, he’s very good.
"He’s a good fighter, a brilliant fighter. At the minute, he’s the face of boxing."
When Mannix asked for Saunders' thoughts on Canelo's Feb. 27 destruction of a hopelessly outmatched Avni Yildirim, Saunders admitted: "I was in bed, asleep. I didn’t watch it.
"I don’t look at opponents, I don’t study them. They have different fights every time. They’re either a come-forward, aggressive fighter or a back-foot boxer. That’s all I need to know."
Canelo vs. Saunders has been in the works before, but never made it over the finish line.
The Hatfield man, whose last outing was a successful title defence against compatriot Martin Murray in December, told Mannix he always had faith in the megafight finally coming together.
"If you believe in yourself and your ability, these fights are never gone forever," he explained. "I knew that my chance would come. I’m sure Canelo has a good time and they promised me the shot, now I’ve got it.
Despite not playing up his chances of being the man to stop Alvarez's incredible run, there was a degree of coyness to Saunders' words and he made an interesting prediction for the Cinco de Mayo weekend encounter."Styles make fights. We’ll have to see on May 8th. That’s the beauty of boxing, you never know. It’s gonna be interesting to see how it pans out."
Watch the entire Chris Mannix interview with Billy Joe Saunders on DAZN now.