Saunders' struggles during lockdown contributed to Canelo cancellation
Billy Joe Saunders has opened up on some of the struggles his family have had to endure over the last few months – revealing that he has been caring for his elderly grandparents during lockdown.
WBO super-middleweight champion Saunders (29-0, 14KOs) is back in training – currently working alongside trainer Ben Davison and unified world super-lightweight champion Josh Taylor out in Fuerteventura.
Saunders has reflected on how things have been for him during the ongoing pandemic, and also discuses what he felt were one-sided negotiations with Canelo Alvarez’s camp for a possible clash in September.
He told The Athletic:“Every gym was closed, and my grandparents are very elderly, I live next door to them. There were a few (health) scares. Seventy-five percent of my time (was dedicated) to her, I couldn’t leave the place, I had my kids every other day.
“I’m not ready in September. You can say to me, ‘Billy Joe, a billion pounds, but you’re not ready and you’re going to get beat.’ I would say keep it. Let me get ready, let me win and I will fight for free.
“I’m nobody’s stepping stone. I’m not another belt for Canelo. They want to try mind games; that don’t work with me, I play the biggest mind games in British boxing.”
While the Canelo fight appears to be out of the reckoning for now, Saunders has another target in his sights, insisting that he has a score to settle with WBO middleweight champion Demetrius Andrade (29-0, 18 KOs).
Saunders added:“That’s the fight I would want, I would love the fight. There’s unfinished business with me and him (Andrade).
“I think he’s a non-top fighter. When it’s gone his way he looks good, when not his way he can’t get going. When I fight him, we both have skills. It’ll be my heart vs. his heart.”
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