Tyson Fury: Canelo has never fought a fighting man like Billy Joe Saunders

Joe HewlettJoe Hewlett25 April 2021
Saunders Monroe

Saunders Monroe

"Canelo has fought them all but never a Fighting Gypsy, we are a different breed of animal to anything he has come across before."

Heavyweight king Tyson Fury has warned Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez that Billy Joe Saunders is '100% mentally in the right place' going into their Cinco de Mayo clash.
Canelo goes toe-to-toe with Saunders in a super middleweight unification clash on May 8 with the WBA, WBC and WBO titles on the line.

While the Mexican is regarded as boxing's Pound for Pound best, Saunders - an undefeated two-division world champion - is seen as his toughest test yet.

While Canelo may have beaten six British fighters in his 58-bout career, including Amir Khan and Callum Smith, he has never faced a fighting Gypsy, says Fury.

"Billy Joe Saunders is 100% mentally in the right place, he knows what he has to do and he will do it, he will rise up and claim greatness," Fury tweeted.
"I was wrote off many times in the past and have always come through, WE are cut from the same cloth, same breed of animals…
"Canelo has fought them all but never a Fighting Gypsy, we are a different breed of animal to anything he has come across before."

Written in the stars

Canelo has just one defeat on his record, which came to Floyd Mayweather in 2013 via majority decision.

The scorecards did not justify the masterclass Mayweather displayed in Las Vegas that night.

The Mexican's record also includes a controversial draw to middleweight great Gennadiy Golovkin - a fight deemed as a robbery for the Kazakhstan great.

The four-division champion, however, has an impressive string of wins, including his rematch against Golovkin and light heavyweight Sergey Kovalev.

Read: Saunders can bash the bookies against Canelo

Saunders, however, understands the task at hand and believes if he sticks to the game plan, there will be a major upset in front of 70,000 fans.
"My history's already written in my head, I just have to follow the script. I know that me doing what I do best and giving everything I've got will be history in itself," Saunders said.
"Canelo's been on my radar ever since I turned pro. He's one of the two [GGG] that's always been there. Now's my time to shine.
"I don't think running a million miles an hour is gonna do me any justice. He's not got the best engine in the world, Canelo.
"He's very good at what he does, extremely good at what he does, but there's faults there.
"We've seen people try to run away and box him, we've seen people try to use the brawn, but we've only seen one man use his brain and that was Floyd Mayweather.
"Brain over brawn here. Brain wins this, technical thinking wins this," Saunders added.