This interview was previously published in Boxing News magazine
How important was it for you to deliver Canelo Alvarez for Liam Smith?
It is important. Listen, invariably, fights are not difficult to make if the fighters want to fight. You get a lot of people talking about things โ like this Chris Eubank Jnr [vs Billy Joe Saunders II] thing, and we all know what a nutter his father is โ you talk about it, you get to a deal, and they didnโt want it. In the end, we lost the will to live. But with Liam, he wants to fight the best, heโs only a young guy and heโs one of those guys I believe rises to the occasion. I believe heโs the best fighter out of the Smith brothers, Iโve always said that โ heโs a much better fighter than people give him credit for, he can punch, he can box. I think Alvarez is excellent, but beatable. One thingโs for sure, unlike Amir [Khan] going into that fight [with Canelo], Liam is a natural super-welterweight and he can punch. Amir couldnโt really punch at his own level, so he wasnโt going to be taking up any power to fight Alvarez.
If you were still guiding Khan, would you have advised him not to take the Canelo fight?
No, heโs at the stage of his career where heโs at and it was a money fight for him. The one thing you can say about Amir is that heโs never ducked anyone. You might say he didnโt fight Kell Brook, well no he didnโt, he fought someone better. You canโt criticise Amir for that.
Were you actively chasing Alvarez for Smith?
Yes, we wanted the fight before Amir got it and we thought we had it done. But it went by the wayside with one thing and another. We originally thought we could get him for Billy Joe, then we were negotiating with [Gennady] Golovkin โ that fell through โ but here we are now. Weโve got the fight. Iโm just p***ed off that the [Tyson] Fury-[Wladimir] Klitschko rematch has been postponed, because we were on the brink of breaking some big news on that, about how people watch BoxNation, but I canโt go into that now.
How close was Billy Joe to fighting Golovkin in the summer?
It was close, but then the summer thing was out because of Bill being injured. After that it became a little bit difficult with the finances of it. But Bill [is looking] to fight the winner of Smith-Alvarez.
How has Billy Joe been with the inactivity?
Heโs been p***ed off. Heโs been training hard, itโs been frustrating. Heโs wasted a lot of time on the Eubank rematch, he got injured. He doesnโt want to hear about Eubank anymore, itโs hard work. But this is boxing, we all know what this game is like. But weโve got a plan for him.
Do you feel heโs been overlooked with all the talk of Golovkin-Alvarez and now Eubank?
I understand it. Theyโre both huge names and letโs be honest, Bill has only just won his world title and he hasnโt defended it yet. Golovkin and Alvarez have been in big fights, theyโre significant fighters. What annoys me is Eubank. He had the Interim title, he could have fought [Danny] Jacobs. He could have fought Saunders, and all we keep hearing is that he wants to fight everybody. The old man [Eubank Snr] is milking it.
What do you make of Anthony Joshua?
Heโs got to step up now. He got presented with the belt after what the IBF did to Tyson, which was a shame for Tyson in many ways. But one manโs bad luck becomes some elseโs good luck. That was a good move [from Matchroom] to go and get Charles Martin, who was the worst heavyweight champion Iโve seen in recent years, but he did what he had to do. But you canโt keep doing that, you canโt keep milking it. It reminds me a little bit of what Matchroom did many years ago with Chris Eubank [Snr], when they put him on a โworldโ tour and they were all s**t fights. Theyโre now charging pay-per-view for Joshua, which they have to, I understand that, because of what Joshua earns, but now heโs got to start stepping up to the plate. The fights that should be made are against Fury, or Klitschko if he wins, or David Haye. Nothing less than that. Look at Fury, he didnโt have to give Klitschko a rematch, but he has, the top two guys in the world. Fury has never shied away from anybody. Fury will fight anyone, a bit like Dereck Chisora, but the difference is he wins the fight.
How do you rate Hayeโs comeback so far?
After three years out heโs entitled to a couple of knockovers. Shannon Briggs is another one. Itโs all part of the script, but heโll have to step up to the plate, and I think he will do. What I will say about Haye, from working with him in the past, if he fancies a job, then he fancies it, and he fancies a fight with Anthony Joshua. He fancies that like he fancied a fight with Chisora, Enzo [Maccarinelli], and thatโs where his head is. I fancy him to beat Joshua too. Donโt get me wrong, Iโm Joshuaโs biggest fan, I wanted to sign him. But I was very disappointed with his performance against Dillian Whyte. Look, Dillianโs a nice bloke and all that, but heโs not world level is he? And he gave Joshua a real tough fight and I thought coming out of that fight there were a lot more questions than there were answers, I was quite shocked. I know that if Joshua hits you on the chin, heโll knock you out. But heโs got that habit where heโll drop his hands, and there are stories about him being hurt badly in sparring. Heโs there to be done, and Iโd pick Haye to beat him. And Tyson definitely beats him. I like Joshua but I see chinks, and if one of my guys was fighting him, Iโd know a way to beat him.
Five years from inception, has BoxNation been a success?
Yes. Itโs going really well and weโre on the brink of announcing something really big โ which we would have done if Fury-Klitschko II hadnโt been postponed. People didnโt think the station would last five minutes and here we are. People think weโre dinosaurs, but weโre innovative, weโve gone and done our own thing. Weโve created our own channel and weโre bringing the best fights from around the world. Look at the world titles and the big-name fighters weโve put on the channel, and brought to the British public. Thatโs what weโve been doing โ weโve changed our business. Domestically, we continue to build champions.