WBC, lineal and Ring heavyweight titlist Tyson Fury always has a lot to say. On Tuesday, however, he went to bat for super middleweight Billy Joe Saunders, who will be facing Canelo Alvarez the first weekend in May at AT&T Stadium outside of Dallas. “I think Matchroom Boxing and Eddie Hearn are absolute wankers,” Fury said in a brief video posted on iFL TV, wherein he appeared to be at a park. “They’re up Canelo Alvarez’ ring piece a million miles.” Even more telling was the fact that Saunders himself was in the video with Fury, going so far as to agree with the towering heavyweight.
“Look on the fucking web page,” Fury continued, referring to Matchroom’s site on the web, “all Canelo, Canelo….do you promote Billy Joe, you little wanky prick?” Here, Fury was directly referring to Matchroom honcho Hearn. To be sure, Saunders is a Matchroom fighter, but Canelo is also hooked up with Matchroom…and is one of the biggest names in boxing, to boot. One could argue that a promoter’s job is to promote, of course, and Canelo is the bigger draw than Saunders leading up to their May fight. Yet Saunders, and likewise his pal Fury, feel he’s getting the short end of the promotional stick.
Fury, who is promoted by Bob Arum and Frank Warren respectively, made it a point in the video to bring up Hearn’s competition. “Frank Warren knows how to promote fighters,” he said to the camera. “That’s why he’s a Hall of Famer.” At one point, Saunders himself stood directly behind Fury. “You a lying bastard, Eddie,” he said with a smile. The smile, of course, could be telling. For both Fury and Saunders are known to like to simply ruffle feathers. How Hearn will react, or if he’ll even react, to the video remains to be seen.
Feelings towards promoters and promotional outlets aside, the Canelo-Saunders match is one of the biggest in the sport of boxing this year. Although Canelo is clearly the favorite walking in – he’s widely regarded as the best pound for pound fighter on earth, after all, Saunders is said to be looking extremely zoned in on the match. What’s more, the Englishman is a very slick and difficult fighter to beat. He’s undefeated with a 30-0 record, and has defeated some quality opponents such as Andy Lee, David Lemieux, and Martin Murray. That being said, he’s never before faced a fighter of the 55-1-2 Canelo’s caliber.