The upcoming showdown between WBA (Super), WBC and The Ring super-middleweight champion Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez and WBO titleholder Billy Joe Saunders, airing live Saturday, May 8, on DAZN (except in Mexico), has generated excitement in the boxing community ever since it was confirmed. Now, the megafight is mere days away.
Alvarez is on such a roll, the pound-for-pound king of the current pugilistic scene is the overwhelming favourite in every fight he takes on. However there is no denying that Saunders provides his toughest challenge since his two bouts with middleweight great Gennadiy 'Triple G' Golovkin.
Here, DAZN analyses exactly why Saunders will be far from the easy night's work that Avni Yiildirim was for Alvarez in February, and why he is likely to play into Canelo's hands a lot less than the man the Mexican defeated last December to begin his path towards unification at 168lbs, Callum Smith.
It can be broken down into four key factors:
Saunders is a southpaw, not an orthodox boxer
In boxing terminilogy, a right-handed boxer is regarded as fighting 'orthodox' while a leftie is called a 'southpaw'. It has been a while since Canelo last encountered a southpaw fighter, too.
And while he knocked out his last left-handed opponent, James Kirkland, six years and 11 fights ago, Saunders' style is far more suited to taking full advantage of the awkwardness a southpaw can inflict upon an adversary who is accustomed to having their own way.
Speaking of that Saunders fighting style...
The Brit is very technically proficient
Many Canelo opponents in recent years have either a) gone in expecting or hoping to be able to bully him around as they do against most other, lesser fighters and receive a very rude awakening; or b) enter the bout knowing full well they have a mountain to climb and hope they can weather Canelo's relentless offense until an opening appears or Canelo makes a critical error.
Every now and then, Alvarez faces someone who can expertly mix up their approach and counter-punch from a multitude of situations. Whenever he has — Erislandy Lara, Austin Trout and of course, Golovkin spring to mind — the nature of Canelo's victory has been far less convincing than every other outing.
Then, of course, there was his solitary professional loss so far, to Floyd Mayweather Jr. Canelo constantly claims in interviews that he is a much different fighter now than he was when he cut a young, naive and frustrated figure in another Mayweather masterclass back in 2013, but Saunders will employ by far the closest to the defensive style Mayweather perfected that Alvarez has had to encounter since then.
So, perhaps we will find out just how much Canelo can handle that approach compared to seven-and-a-half years ago.
Nobody has defeated Saunders before
Of course, Alvarez has an impressive resume of boxers on whom he inflicted their first professional defeat. Saunders would be another elite name to go onto that list, should Canelo emerge victorious. However, the aura of invincibility a fighter enjoys when they've come this far and achieved as much as BJS has without being conquered once makes them a more difficult code to crack than if they had endured the feeling of being second-best.
The unbeaten record, combined with the technical style, means Alvarez will likely need to be patient and perhaps even overcome some initial feelings of frustration before he receives that first real opportunity to take over in the contest.
Just how much has Canelo become used to being in charge of a fight from the opening bell? How will he react if he has to bide his time, or change his approach mid-fight? We could very easily find out on Saturday.
Billy Joe fears absolutely no fight
The bout has been billed as 'Face The Fearless' for a reason.
Saunders has, on multiple occasions, made it abundantly clear that he is not intimidated by his toughest challenge to date. And nobody has accused him of being all-talk in those claims, either.
Billy Joe's background, his training and his community have all revolved around the 'fight until you drop' mentality, and a stubborn determination to either win or go out on one's shield. As a result, it's unlikely even a perfect start for Canelo will break his opponent's spirit.
Should Alvarez win all of the first six rounds, Saunders will not forget that there are six more to play for. If a knockout ends up the only way to avoid a wide points defeat, we can expect to see the Brit go for broke. And, if Saunders is able to move ahead on the scorecards early on, it's unlikely BJS will panic and leave openings for a comeback as easily as, say, George Groves did in his first challenge of Carl Froch at the same weight class.
'Victory or Valhalla' is a handy outlook to have when you face the best boxer in the world today. Especially with the other three aspects outlined above. Though the favourite, this should be Canelo's biggest challenge since the Golovkin encounters.