Proposed Canelo-Saunders May 2nd fight postponed?

Many have been wondering what is going on with the proposed fight announcement between Canelo Alvarez and Billy Joe Saunders that was expected to be announced this week?

Much like everything in the United States due to the coronavirus, it has been postponed.

Keith Idec of Boxingscene.com reported today that organizers had planned to officially announce this week that Alvarez would challenge Saunders for his WBO Super Middleweight Championship May 2 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Golden Boy Promotions, which represents Alvarez, and Matchroom Boxing, Saunders’ promoter, also had planned to hold a press conference Tuesday, March 17 in Los Angeles to start spreading the word about Alvarez-Saunders fight to kick off the media tour.

Canelo-Saunders Fight Could Be Pushed Back From May 2 https://t.co/7bfwWMkTKx pic.twitter.com/6xxC65Rwl7

— BoxingScene.com (@boxingscene) March 13, 2020

Also in the Boxingscene report, everyone involved, along with executives for DAZN the platform that is airing the fight, are at least considering pushing back Canelo-Saunders from May 2nd. The fight is slated to go on in May during Cinco De Mayo weekend, but that is just seven weeks away.

Unlike tonight’s ShoBox card which will have live boxing in front of no one in the stands but “essential personnel”, they were expecting to fight the Alvarez-Saunders card in front of fans.

Of course if the pandemic worsens in the United States over the next few weeks, there would have to be a alternate plan as that weekend traditionally has been the date for big fights in Las Vegas.

One thing to keep in mind while we wait for Canelo to peruse the WBO Super Middleweight strap held by Saunders is: the U.S. travel ban from Europe put in place due to the coronavirus.

President Donald Trump put down a travel ban from 26 countries which went into effect Friday at midnight. While the travel ban doesn’t include the United Kingdom or Ireland, we’ll see how that will impact everything as time goes on.

The bout itself would place the once beaten Alvarez (53-1-2, 36 KOs) off his November victory of Sergey Kovalev taking on undefeated Saunders (29-0, 14 KOs), who was last in action stopping Marcelo Coceres in November as well.