Billy Joe Saunders, the unbeaten British super-middleweight who will put his WBO title up against the WBA (Super), WBC and The Ring belts of Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez Saturday May 8 on DAZN, recently told DAZN's Chris Mannix that he is still recovering from an illness that has delayed the start of his training camp for the megafight by at least 10 days.
This raised the question: with just two months remaining until fight week, will Saunders have an adequate amount of time to shift excess weight and squeeze in an adequate amount of intensive training for the biggest fight of his career?
On the latest episode of "Jabs" on DAZN, Mannix and former world light-middleweight champion Sergio Mora debated the pros and cons of Saunders being sick around the time the fight was confirmed.
So, does this put Saunders at a huge disadvantage?
"No, because we’re 10 weeks away and he will have eight weeks of strong camp and one week of duties once we get to fight week," said Mora.
"At that point, you’re not training hard anymore. It’s not a brutal camp, it’s just fitness, maintaining your weight and doing your cardio.
"Eight weeks of brutal camp — of sparring, beating up your body, running, sprinting — that is gonna be needed. Billy Joe Saunders is a two-time champion and an Olympian. He knows what his body needs, he knows when to pick things up. Eight weeks or nine weeks is gonna be perfect for him, and he’s still got 10."
Mannix added: "I don’t think it’s the end of the world, necessarily, especially when Billy Joe fought in December and had a full camp for that fight against Martin Murray, but I do wonder how long his sickness will linger. When he does begin his full camp, will he hit ground running? Will he be at full strength?
"Against Canelo, he will need to be as sharp and as prepared as he’s ever been his entire life. He is facing the best fighter in the world. He needs to have a great gameplan, he needs to be on his game, he needs to be on his skills, he needs to be in great shape.
"So I guess for right now it’s not a huge deal, but when we get to the eight week mark I wanna know: is he getting right into a full training camp like he usually does, or are there any lingering effects from this illness that keep him from going at it strong right away?"
Mora feels the timing could be more of a positive than a negative, though.
"It’s better that he gets sick before he starts camp because if he gets sick during camp while he’s cutting weight, the body gets weaker and that’s when you really start falling ill. Believe me, it’s a good thing that he fell ill before he started, now he can reset and start from the beginning."
Canelo vs. Saunders takes place on May 8, live on DAZN in most parts of the world.