Mexican star Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez and British champion Billy Joe Saunders square off in a super middleweight championship unification. The scheduled for twelve rounds world title bout headlines the Matchroom Boxing fight card taking place at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, TX. The event airs live stream on DAZN on Saturday, May 8 in the US, which converts to Sunday, May 9 in the UK and Australia (start time here).
The final pre-fight press conference was held early today (video here). Check out below what Canelo and Saunders had to say ahead of their highly anticipated showdown.
Canelo Alvarez: Boxing is my life and I come here to win
“I feel really thankful with the response of the people and that boxing is a sport that brings everything back to normal. I’m ready for this fight.”
“He’s a great fighter, he has a lot of ability and he’s a southpaw. I’m not the same fighter I was six or seven years ago, this Saturday I will show that.”
“I’ve been involved in a lot of big fights and this is just another day at the office. I come to win, like I said boxing is my life and I come here to win.”
Billy Joe Saunders: This is for all the Gypsies back home, everyone in the UK, plus half the Mexicans, get behind me
“I’ve been boxing all my life, I’ve been boxing since I was five years old, I’ve dragged up – on the gypsy camps. We can all have the rough, tough talk growing up as kids. I’m here for a reason, there’s no other reasons for me to be here apart from to win. Not about fame or anything else, to win.”
“I don’t think we’ve had somebody come to win for a very long time. We’ve had a lot of people turn up, collect cheques and fly out but we haven’t had the heart, soul and IQ that I’ll bring to the ring on Saturday night to win.”
“I can’t talk what he’s done down, he’s done brilliant things for boxing. He’s a good champion but like I said, there’s a time in life where you get tested, sometimes when you forget where come from and forget all those hard things that’s brought you to where you’re at sometimes that can make it difficult on yourself. I think he’s going to be bumping into the wrong man Saturday night to be going home with titles. I’m looking forward to a very good fight but most definitely the win.”
Canelo vs Saunders Australia time, date and how to watch – all states and territories
“I think I’ve been up against the crowds before; I’ve travelled as an amateur to the Olympics game at 18, there’s no bigger pressure on someone’s shoulders when they’re stepping in front of millions of people there.”
“There’s added pressure coming for both of us for this fight because both of us don’t want to go home the loser. At the end of the day, half the Mexican people like him, half don’t, so hopefully half that don’t like him will be supporting the Gypsy boy, we’ll get it rocking and rolling. This is for all the Gypsies back home, everyone in the UK, plus half the Mexicans, get behind me.”
The full Canelo vs Saunders undercard can be found here.
The post Saunders looks for ‘Gypsy boy’ support from ‘half the Mexican people’ that don’t like Canelo appeared first on FIGHTMAG.