Trainer: Billy Joe Saunders Wanted To Compete In 9th Round Against Canelo Alvarez

Billy Joe Saunders was ready to compete against Canelo Alvarez despite suffering a fractured orbital bone in their title clash.

Saunders suffered a TKO defeat to Alvarez after a fractured orbital bone in the eighth round led his corner throwing in the towel during their title unification clash.

Many of the Briton’s detractors have since stated that he gave up and mocked him for his previous comments on Daniel Dubois.

However, Saunders wanted to come out for the ninth round according to trainer Ben Davison. It was ultimately overruled by head trainer Mark Tibbs.

“There’s a very misconstrued opinion of what happened in the corner,” Davison told iFL TV (via BoxingScene). “Billy Joe came back in the corner and sat down, I came up and whispered in his ear and said ‘you’ve proven you belong at this level and you’ll get another shot because this fight was close’. He was growing into the fight but I told him we had to pull it, and that’s why he shook his head as if to say ‘no, I’m going back out there.’ I think he even said something about how he could go orthodox.

“Let me clear something up about Billy Joe, I won’t name any names but he has made fighters who are good quality, who have a lot of heart, quit in the gym. He only shook his head to say ‘don’t pull the fight’ but we had to do what we had to do. Billy Joe would have gone back out for the next round, of course he would, but before the round ended it was clear we had to pull this, it was clear straight away.”

It’s completely normal not to like Saunders, but to say that he gave up against Alvarez is ludicrous to say the least, especially given that he had his fair share of moments during the fight.