THE contracts have now been signed and Billy Joe Saunders will be the latest Brit to face the fearsome pound-for-pound star and guaranteed all-time great, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez. 

The fight is scheduled to take place on May 8, the weekend of Mexico’s most important national holiday, Cinco de Mayo, at either the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas — home of the Dallas Cowboys — or at the Allegiant Stadium in Vegas, which is home to the Raiders. On the line will be Saunders’s WBO super middleweight belt and Canelo’s WBA and WBV versions of the same title. 

Let no-one be in doubt that Saunders is up against it. The fact it’s been reported that he was two stone over the 12-stone super middleweight limit when the fight was announced does not bode well. Neither does the report that he’s been unable to train properly due to illness. This being said, it would not be a surprise if this information has been either fabricated or exaggerated for the purposes of mind games.

Saunders has been looking for this fight for the past few years and his stated motivation for switching from Frank Warren’s to Eddie Hearn’s promotional stable was with this objective in mind — Hearn’s association with the US sport streaming outfit DAZN, which also has Canelo under a mega multifight contract, making it the smart move.

Canelo is currently the face of boxing, a king of the ring who carries himself with dignity and the pride that comes with having an entire country behind him. His attention to detail in and out of the ring is inordinate, as the vast majority of the 55 men he’s faced thus far could attest to.

Inactive for over a year, and upon parting company acrimoniously with Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions, he is now in the midst of a schedule that calls to mind the fighters of old, men who thought nothing of fighting five even six times a year.

Evidence for this is after removing Callum Smith’s WBC title in mid-December last year, he smashed his mandatory Anvil Yildirim in late February, and is now back in camp with Saunders on his mind for May. 

Saunders’s last outing was against Martin Murray in early December at Wembley Arena. His victory in what turned out to be something of a pedestrian clash marked his 30th win in 30 fights since turning pro in 2009. During this time controversy has stalked the southpaw traveller outside the ring to the point where you can’t help but think that his PR adviser is Attila the Hun.

Inside the ring he’s proved that he knows how to win both ugly and handsome. For fighters such as he, being in shape is an occupational hazard, a condition they only gets into grudgingly.

At this stage in his career, without a Canelo to train for, Billy Joe Saunders would doubtless rather remain in bed than train.

Yet when in shape and mentally attuned to the day job he is capable of the sublime. His performance against Canada’s David Lemieux in the latter’s backyard in 2016 was and remains now the stand-out of his career. Boxing, however, is not a business that allows for dining out on past endeavours. 

Those who do are usually guaranteed to find dining out on a mouth with missing teeth an endeavour in itself. Alvarez, moreover, is a fighter for whom standing out is the norm. Try asking Smith if in doubt. The tall and well regarded Scouser climbed into the ring against the Mexican late last year much fancied to cause an upset. Over the course of the ensuing 12 rounds “he was like a man trying to fight off wasps with a shovel.”

Saunders won’t make the same mistake Smith made in moving in straight lines with his upper body ramrod straight when he faces Canelo. Saunders has superior feet and relies more on brain than brawn. But he doesn’t punch as hard as Smith, and certainly not Canelo, and so his chance for glory lies in a 12-round masterclass.

Going in as the clear underdog should if anything inspire his best ever performance in a boxing ring. But even with that, still he risks the danger of being reduced to a blind man feeling his way along the edge of a cliff. Alvarez has left even the most touted of his opponents looking like their faces have been knitted. 

He is as complete as a fighter as the T34 was as a tank. Even mother nature appears to have bowed to him, giving him a pass when it comes to the usual ravages of age.

Canelo’s trainer, Eddy Reynoso — son of former head trainer Chepo Reynoso — has deservedly established a reputation as currently the sport’s premier trainer. A San Diego training stable that also includes Ryan Garcia, Oscar Valdez and Andy Ruiz Jnr is a place where boxing royalty resides. The latter of this trio, Ruiz Jnr, has been transformed since teaming up with Reynoso just under a year ago.

Recent training footage of the man responsible for the only defeat on Anthony Joshua’s record confirms that he’s back and physically transformed, no longer the obese testament to burritos and beer he was when he last faced AJ in Saudi Arabia.

He is quite obviously relishing his new training set up and environment, and this fact alone should send a chill down the spine of every other active top heavyweight. Ruiz out of shape was a phenomenal two-handed combination fighter. The prospect of him in-shape is a fearsome one. The handspeed of a fast middleweight in a heavyweight body is not normal, and not normal is the very quality required to succeed in a land of giants for a short heavyweight such as he.

There is talk of Ruiz facing Chris Arreola in April and Deontay Wilder at the back end of 2021. Triumph is sweet and redemption is sweeter. Ruiz has tasted the former and is now intent on enjoying the latter.

Mexico is in the house.