Gennady Golovkin loss could pave way for Billy Joe Saunders fight

War zone: Alvarez and Golovkin — and a third fight between the pair is on the cards
AP
John Dillon17 September 2018

Billy Joe Saunders could finally get his chance to fight middleweight icon Gennady Golovkin, after the Kazakh’s defeat by Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez.

Golovkin and Alvarez look to be heading for a second re-match next May, while Saunders defends his WBO title in the division against Demetrius Andrade in Boston next month.

Promoter Frank Warren believes Golovkin will wish to keep busy ahead of a third clash with Alvarez — and that could hand Saunders the opportunity to face the 36-year-old, who was beaten for the first time in 40 fights in Las Vegas yesterday.

Saunders, 28, was close to securing a meeting with Golovkin this year before the deal was struck to take on Alvarez for a second time.

Controversy: Alvarez celebrates his narrow points win
AP

After a controversial draw in their first collision last September, Mexican Alvarez was handed a narrow 114-114, 115-113, 115-113 majority points win at the T-Mobile Arena as he claimed the WBC and WBA belts, although many observers scored the fight in Golovkin’s favour and believe he got an unjust decision for a second time.

Warren said: “First of all, Billy Joe has to get past Andrade and hopefully he will. And if there is a re-match between Golovkin and Alvarez, it won’t be until next May.

“Golovkin has always been a busy fighter — usually boxing three or four times a year — and I don’t believe he will want to sit on his backside at the age of 36 for another eight and a half months waiting for Canelo, who only fights twice a year.

“So this result could actually make it easier to set up a fight with Golovkin for Billy.

“I certainly don’t think Canelo and his people fancy meeting Billy. He is an awkward, southpaw counter-puncher with a good chin — totally wrong for Alvarez.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in