Official: Canelo vs Saunders to be held at AT&T Stadium on May 8

As has been expected for at least the last few days, it’s now official: Canelo Alvarez vs Billy Joe Saunders will take place at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, on Saturday, May 8, with the fight streaming live on DAZN.

Canelo (55-1-2, 37 KO) has fought at the home of the Dallas Cowboys once before, beating Liam Smith at the stadium in 2016.

“We are proud to host a boxing match of this magnitude as we welcome back Canelo Alvarez to AT&T Stadium to take on Billy Joe Saunders,” said Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones. “AT&T Stadium was built to house the greatest sporting events on the planet, and we feel we have another incredible boxing event on the horizon with this matchup taking place in Arlington.”

Capacity will be increased for the event, so there won’t be 15-20,000 people for this fight, as we’ve seen at other stadium events in recent months. They’re advertising “over 60,000 fans” for the event.

“It’s an absolute honor to bring this huge event to the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas on May 8,” said Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn. “Last year Canelo missed out on his historic Cinco de Mayo fight, and to bring over 60,000 fans together at this iconic stadium this year is a dream come true.”

Texas has increasingly become a strong presence in major boxing during the COVID-19 pandemic; however you feel about the state’s more relaxed rules about gatherings, it’s happening. This fight follows Davis-Santa Cruz, Spence-Garcia, Canelo-Smith, Garcia-Campbell, and Estrada-Chocolatito 2 as big fights to be held in Texas since last October, because fans have been permitted to attend, albeit not at full capacity.

Saunders (30-0, 14 KO) will be defending his WBO super middleweight title, while Alvarez puts his WBC and WBA belts on the line. A Canelo win would seem to lead to a September undisputed title fight with IBF titlist Caleb Plant, although that’s not set in stone. A Saunders win would likely result in an immediate rematch with Canelo.