Hearn Confirms Billy Joe Saunders Still Hospitalized For Eye Surgery

Former WBO Super Middleweight Champ, Billy Joe Saunders, remained hospitalized in Ft. Worth, Texas, Sunday after suffering a fractured right eye orbital bone from a punch by Unified 168 lb. champ, Canelo Alvarez, Saturday night.

The former unbeaten Brit retired on his stool after the conclusion of the eighth round of the scheduled Matchroom Boxing mega-fight in front of a record 73,000 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

Billy Joe Saunders' eye ? pic.twitter.com/fAUPdQ8v0z

— DAZN Boxing (@DAZNBoxing) May 9, 2021

Saunders left the ring almost immediately after the fight was waved off due to his nasty swollen eye and soon after, he got on an ambulance to head to John Peter Smith Hospital in Ft. Worth, about 20 minutes away.

Saunders remained there overnight and Mike Coppinger, insider for the Athletic, reported Sunday morning that he had seen Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn and gotten more on the situation with Saunders’ eye,

Bumped into @EddieHearn in the lobby on his way to see Billy Joe Saunders at John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth. Saunders set to have surgery today on multiple fractures to his orbital bone, a complete blowout, known as a quadripod fracture. Brutal injury #CaneloSaunders

— Mike Coppinger (@MikeCoppinger) May 9, 2021

That surgery’s medical definition is a “Zygomaticomaxillary complex fracture” or “quadripod fracture.”

“Quadripod” is described as,

“four components, three of which are directly related to connections between the zygoma and the face, and the fourth being an orbital blowout or complete fracture of the wall of the eye orbit.” and can,
“require surgery consisting of fracture reduction with miniplates, microplates and screws.”

That’s likely what’s being done with Saunders’ injury, and it’s believed that he will remain hospitalized for at least Sunday, if not longer.

Back to the fight and the stoppage by trainer Mark Tibbs in Saunders’ corner. He explained post-fight to the media,

“His eye socket was caved in and he couldn’t see. I didn’t get the response I wanted from him. I didn’t get the response I needed in the corner and I knew it was caved in. I’m not surprised I got the response I got.”

“I had to pull it… He never said, ‘No, that’s it.’ He left it to me. He took it well. He was in pain.” 

Clearly, it’s a serious injury, but as we wrote late night Saturday, others in Saunders’ situation with a lot less prestige’ and money in the equation did continue to try to fight on, while he did not.

Again, no one is suggesting it wasn’t a significant injury and Alvarez would likely have ended things immediately to start the ninth round that never happened.

One thing is for sure: Saunders won’t ever have a setting, the interest and the money like he had on Saturday night at the home of the Dallas Cowboys, even if it did end with a fractured eye.