By Miguel Rivera
Last Saturday night, WBO middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders (26-0, 12 KOs) traveled over to Canada to dominate local superstar David Lemieux over twelve one-sided rounds. Lemieux had previously held the IBF title.
Lemieux is promoted by Golden Boy Promotions, who also guide the career of Mexican superstar Saul "Canelo' Alvarez (49-1-2, 34 KOs).
The win by Saunders was a big blow to Golden Boy - who had hoped to secure the WBO title - which would have opened up another fight option for Canelo.
Canelo is currently in talks for a rematch with IBF, IBO, WBA, WBC middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin, for the Cinco De Mayo date of May 5th, likely in Las Vegas.
They fought back in September, at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, and the bout ended in a controversial twelve round split draw.
After his victory last week, Saunders said he was more interested in a fight with Canelo as opposed to a Golovkin clash.
Could Saunders become another option for Canelo?
Not right now, according to Golden Boy Promotions President Eric Gomez.
Gomez was not very happy with the way Saunders vs. Lemieux played out.
He felt Saunders fought in a very similar manner to Erislandy Lara, who lost a razor close decision to Canelo in 2014.
Gomez takes nothing away from Saunders' win, but feels that type of style would create a fight that won't really be fan friendly for a pay-per-view audience.
They want the most exciting fight possible - which is why they want the rematch with Golovkin.
"We already knew he was a good fighter but what surprised us is how much he runs. He does not allow himself to fight, he starts running, it's a very annoying style. Canelo already fought with a similar style with Erislandy Lara and he got through it. So having said that, we're going to keep the focus on the tiebreaker [with Golovkin]," Gomez said to ESPN Deportes.
2023-10-20 05:01:41
