Billy Joe Saunders Has Surgery On Eye, Likely To Be Out For A ‘Long, Long Time’

Billy Joe Saunders had surgery on his eye that was hurt in his eighth-round TKO loss to Canelo Alvarez on Saturday night.

Early on in the fight, Saunders was having success as his jab was working well. However, as the fight wore on, it was Alvarez, like usual, picking up the intensity and landing good body shots before landing a beautifully timed uppercut that left Saunders being unable to see and the fight was stopped after the eighth round.

When the fight was stopped, many criticized Saunders for quitting, however, it was revealed he had a serious injury and will likely be out for a long time. For Eddie Hearn, after seeing Saunders in the hospital, he believes his corner did the right thing by stopping the fight.

“You could see as soon as he [Canelo] hit him [Saunders] that he’d done his eye socket,” Hear told iFL TV (via talksport). “I think because he couldn’t see, the next round was going to be a bad situation. I think he would have got badly hurt in that round. He’s gone to hospital and I believe he’ll have that operated on immediately. So he’s going to be out for a long, long time. But he’s a world-class fighter who lost to the pound-for-pound number one. He’s a two-weight world champion. If he wants to carry on there’s some big fights out there for him. He may feel he has got to a stage where he’s been there, he’s done it, he’s seen it all. We’ll back him 100 percent.”

For his trainer, Mark Tibbs, he knew he didn’t want to stop the fight. However, he says when he got back to the corner and knowing Saunders couldn’t see he waved it off to save him from any unnecessary damage. His eye socket was caved in and he couldn’t see. I didn’t get the response from him so, you know,” Tibbs said. “It’s frustrating, really, because I felt that he was growing into it. But I had to pull it. He never said, ‘No, that’s it,’ he left it to me,” the trainer added. “He took it well, but he was in pain. The eye socket was gone and he was in pain.”

What do you make of Billy Joe Saunders likely being out for a long, long time?