LAST week it looked as good as nailed-on that Billy Joe Saunders would get his life-changing payday in a WBO super-middleweight title defence against Mexican superstar Saul โCaneloโ Alvarez.
It seemed Saunders had beaten his fellow Brit Callum Smith to the punch, and many had even started to assess how the southpaw championโs style would mesh with Caneloโs, so sure were they that he would be next for the four-weight world champion on May 2.
This, however, now looks at best premature, at worst wide of the mark.
In fact, Oscar De La Hoya, Caneloโs promoter, has firmly denied Saunders is the frontrunner to face Alvarez on May 2 and even gone so far as to say he is nowhere near the front of the pack.
โSaunders is not the front-runner, thatโs for sure,โ De La Hoya told SecondsOut.com. โI have no idea who threw that name out there. I have a trip to Mexico (to meet) with Canelo and his team. Weโll sit down, Iโll stay there for a few days, iron out a deal and take it from there. Once we have the name down, weโll have an announcement shortly.โ
Of course, given Alvarezโs star appeal and the sizeable purse he guarantees, De La Hoya wonโt be short of willing opponents for his man, who is reportedly open to fights at middleweight, super-middleweight or light-heavyweight, having recently won a WBO title at 175 pounds.
Whether Billy Joe Saunders, 24-0 (14), is truly out of the running, or simply being pooh-poohed for negotiation reasons, will be revealed in due course.
Anthony Joshuaโs next opponent wonโt be Deontay Wilder, nor will Deontay Wilderโs next opponent be Anthony Joshua. But that doesnโt mean the two heavyweight world champions arenโt plotting to meet at some point later this year.
Before any such meeting, Joshua must first defeat either Oleksandr Usyk or Kubrat Pulev, his mandatory challengers for two of the three world heavyweight titles he owns. Wilder, on the other hand, must get past Tyson Fury, his old nemesis, when the pair meet for a second time on February 22 in Las Vegas.
In boxing, though, it is rare that an elite fighter is thinking only about the immediate, which explains why Wilder and Joshua, despite the dangerous nature of their next assignments, are busy thinking two steps ahead.
โWeโve had meetings,โ Joshua, the WBA, IBF and WBO heavyweight champion, told Sky Sports News. โThat same meeting with Usykโs manager, afterwards we had another meeting to potentially put an offer in to solidify (a fight with Wilder) before they have even had their fight (against Fury), and before I have my next fight.
โEveryone wants Wilder to win because (a fight with me) is what everyone wants to see. Wilder has a great right hand; I have a great left hand. It is a great boxing match.
โWe had a meeting about that. It has great potential. I heard (Wilder and Fury) have a third fight lined up towards the end of the year but we have to throw a curveball in there. Something that gets Wilderโs attention providing he wins so that he thinks to himself: โEven though I have a rematch clause, Iโll see how I can manipulate my contract, get out of it, and fight for the undisputed championship.โโ
A lot depends on the outcome of Wilder vs. Fury II, of course, but if a curveball needs to be chucked for the purpose of seeing โ at last โ Wilder and Joshua share a ring, with perhaps four world heavyweight titles on the line, just release it, boys โ let it go. Because if they donโt, that is, if they decide to delay it any longer, the only curveballs they will be seeing are Andy Ruiz Jnr-shaped ones.