Eddie Hearn: Billy Joe Saunders will fight Canelo Alvarez if boxing returns by summer

As strange as the world has been lately, it has been pretty odd to see reports that Canelo Alvarez and Gennadiy Golovkin have agreed to a third fight for this fall before Canelo has even formally announced his next expected fight with Billy Joe Saunders, originally expected for May 2.

With the spreading coronavirus shutting down everything in sight for the foreseeable future it’s already looking like Canelo-Saunders will be pushed to June, but that’s only if boxing is back in business by then. If things drag out any longer than that, that could leave Canelo on too quick of turnaround for a September fight with Golovkin, so really Saunders’ shot at Canelo seems contingent on the schedule working in his favor as he has a small window of opportunity.

To that end Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn admits that he still expects Saunders to fight Canelo, but seems to be aware there are question marks surrounding the fight.

“Right now, Billy Joe Saunders is actually in Vegas, training. We were supposed to have a press conference on Monday, to announce the Canelo Alvarez fight. He’s out training with Ben Davison and Josh Taylor, who has just had his fight postponed for May 2 as well. No one knows what they’re doing.

”It’s the moment where you’ve got to stay focused, you’ve got to stay disciplined. I believe Billy Joe Saunders will fight Canelo Alvarez, as long as the boxing schedule returns in the summer.”

As of right now, though, nobody really knows when we might expect a return to normalcy and how that might affect the boxing schedule and fights to come.