It appears all talk of Billy Joe Saunders pulling out of his super-middleweight unification fight against Canelo Alvarez over the exact size of the ring to be used at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas has been put to rest, and the bout airing live on DAZN worldwide except Mexico this Saturday will go ahead.
Saunders and his father had on Tuesday threatened to pull out of the huge bout just a few days prior to what will be the biggest payday of the Brit's career amid reports that Alvarez is targeting an 18-foot ring for their fight. Saunders has primarily competed in a 20-foot ring, and was targeting a 24-foot ring for this encounter.
A larger fighting space would seem to benefit Saunders, whose style is based on movement, evasion and counter-punching. Canelo, meanwhile, is regarded as the harder-hitter and more aggressive of the two and would arguably have a big advantage if his opponent was more confined by a smaller ring.
Nonetheless, the disagreement was one very few expected to actually lead to a cancellation or substituition, given the financial side of things for both men. This is despite reports that John Ryder, a former opponent of Saunders' at middleweight who ran him close in a 12-round fight in 2013 and has now moved up to 168lbs, is flying out to Texas this week to serve as an alernate as he did for Canelo vs. Callum Smith in December.
“I just want to say the issue is sorted because, as you can see, I tagged [Matchroom Boxing promoter] Eddie Hearn and Canelo in the last video and the ring is not a problem, so thumbs are up,” Saunders said in a social media post. “Chilling back, watching a few films and, Eddie, get the ring in, mate.”
The Ring reported that the compromise will be either for a 20-feet or 22-feet ring, but Canelo insists that he has not made any specific demands over the ring specifications.
“I don’t care about the size of the ring,” Alvarez said. “I’m just gonna go in there and do my job. It’s not the only excuse he’s had. He’s had plenty of excuses. The fight’s going to happen.
“He has to fight Saturday. The fight is going to happen. That’s not a problem.”