Canelo vs Billy Joe Saunders LIVE REACTION: Saunders may ‘RETIRE’ after horror eye injury – latest updates

GRACIAS AFICIONADOS

Canelo Alvarez has thanked his fans around the world who supported him during his victory over Billy Joe Saunders last night.

The Mexican stopped the Brit by shattering his eye socket and he took to Twitter tonight to express his gratitude to those who backed him.

ED-ING IN TO SURGERY

Billy Joe Saunders is undergoing surgery on his eye socket, according to Eddie Hearn.

The Brit had his orbital bone smashed by Canelo Alvarez overnight in his defeat to the Mexican.

And the Matchroom promoter updated fans on his current state.

CAN-NOT COMPARE

British welterweight Ohara Davies has had his say on Billy Joe Saunders’ eye injury during his defeat to Canelo last night.

Saunders withdrew with a shattered eye socket and boxing fans were quick to compare it to other similar incidents.

Both Ebanie Bridges and Daniel Dubois sustained eye problems in recent fights but Davies reckons the quality of Saunders’ opponent means you can’t compare.

EU GOTTA BE KIDDING!

Chris Eubank Junior pulled no punches after his old foe Billy Joe Saunders’ corner pulled him out of his fight against Canelo.

Eubank took to social media to hit out at the Brit and suggested he would not have ‘quit’ if he was in the same situation.

MORE, MORE, MORE!

Canelo Alvarez continued on his path to greatness with his stoppage win over Billy Joe Saunders overnight.

Many had tipped the Brit to put a stop to the Mexican’s phenomenal run.

But after Canelo smashed his eye socket to pieces, Saunders’ corner decided to pull him out and the South American marched on.

CLASS IS PERMANENT

Canelo Alvarez took time to taunt Billy Joe Saunders as he forced a stoppage in Dallas overnight.

The Mexican smashed up the Brit’s eye socket forcing his corner to throw in the towel.

And this snap as good as summed up the evening’s events.

BUILDING BRIDGES

Ebanie Bridges has offered her support to Billy Joe Saunders having initially questioned the severity of his eye injury following his defeat to Canelo Alvarez.

The British star, 31, was forced to throw in the towel shortly before the ninth round against his superb Mexican opponent on Saturday following a brutal uppercut which fractured his eye socket.

The Blonde Bomber, 34, initially tweeted: “Don’t tell me he stopped cos of his eye……” But after receiving a backlash from boxing fans, Bridges took to Instagram to throw her support behind Saunders – who was rushed to hospital following his loss to Canelo and could even be forced to retire.

Bridges wrote: “I Defs wasn’t in there with canelo, but I was in a lot of pain and I couldn’t see for 3 rounds…

“I went to emergency after the fight as everyone suspected a break but luckily for me there was no breaks. At first I was like wtf why they stopping the fight cos it didn’t look that bad….

“But I do feel for @saundersbillyjoe I thought he was Defs in the fight, I’m sure he would of liked to continue, the corner did their job. It might not look as bad as mine looked on the outside but I’m sure it’s very serious.”

TRASH TALK

Canelo was confronted by middleweight rival Demetrius Andrade in an X-rated altercation following the Mexican’s win over Saunders.

Andrade interrupted the presser by saying: “So when can we get something going on? Let’s make it happen. What’s up Canelo? Congratulations today though, good job baby, good job.

“I’m a big fan… but what’s up though? When can we make it happen? What you think?”

Canelo responded: “I know [you’re a fan]. Man, you fight with nobody. You are a champion but you fight with nobody. You won the belt with nobody.”

Andrade then questioned Canelo’s recent resume, before the American’s dad accused the Mexican of ‘avoiding’ his son.

This appeared to rile Alvarez who aggressively shouted: “Get the f**k out of here man. Please, get the f**k out of here. It’s my night.”

Andrade’s father then yelled: “Don’t you say to him to get out here. F**k you. Go ahead, come. Come. F**k you.”

And Andrade said: “Don’t swear at me. Don’t talk to my dad like that. I’ll f**k you up. I just asked you a simple question. What you gonna do? You tough? Watch your mouth bro. I congratulated you bro, watch your mouth.”

To which Alvarez said: “Hey, get the f**k out of here because I’m gonna f**k you up right now motherf**r. Hey, get the f**k out of here.

“Hey, you are a horrible fighter man. You never won against a good fighter. You are a horrible fighter. Horrible fighter. Just pay day, pay day, you want pay day, I know that.”

Andrade was then escorted from the room, but not before he could get the final word by saying: “Come beat me little b***h. When I see you, it’s on.”

THE RESULTS

Here’s a reminder of last night’s results if you’re just joining us.

• Canelo Alvarez defeated Billy Joe Saunders (TKO)
• Elwin Soto defeated Katsunari Takayama (TKO)
• Souleymane Cissokho defeated Kieron Conway (SD)
• Frank Sanchez defeated Nagy Aguilera (TKO)
• Marc Castro defeated Irving Macias Castillo (TKO)
• Keyshawn Davis defeated Jose Antonio Meza (UD)
• Christian Alan Gomez Duran defeated Xavier Wilson (TKO)
• Kelvin Davis defeated Jan Marsalek (UD)

EYE SPY

Saunders faces a long and painful route back IF he decides to carry on boxing after Canelo shattered his face and dreams.

That’s the verdict of SunSport’s Wally Downes Jr – click here to read more.

MORE THAN 73,000 IN ATTENDANCE

There was more than 73,000 fans inside the AT&T Stadium for the Canelo/Saunders bout.

That’s around 23,000 more than the Canelo/Smith fight attracted in 2016.

FURY LOVES TO DANCE

Tyson Fury was backing fellow Brit Billy Joe Saunders to be victorious last night and will be gutted his mate didn’t manage to win.

But at least the heavyweight champ had fun at the weigh in.

EU FANCY IT?

Chris Eubank Jr has called out Canelo Alvarez after the Mexican defeated the Brit with a brutal uppercut.

The 31-year-old lost a middleweight bout to Billy Joe Saunders in 2014.

WORLD CHAMP PUNDITRY

Newly crowned flyweight IBF Sunny Edwards knew exactly what Billy Joe Saunders should and shouldn’t do.

The little mastermind should have been in his corner…

CANELO WAS WINNING

DAZN have released the judges scorecards for the fight between Canelo and Saunders.

Canelo ended the contest with a brutal uppercut in the eighth round – but, according to the scorecards, he was winning the bout anyway.

Here’s the proof…

CANELO WANTS CALEB

Canelo has expressed his desire to face Caleb Plant in his next fight.

Plant currently holds the only title missing from the Mexican’s super-middleweight collection – the IBF belt.

SAUNDERS QUOTES – REMINDER

Billy Joe Saunders was forced to quit his bout with Canelo last night after the Mexican damaged the Brit’s eye.

But before the fight, Saunders promised not to do that.

He said: “If my two eye sockets were broken, my jaw was broken, my teeth were out, my nose was smashed, my brain was beaten, I was not stopping until I was knocked out or worse.

“I don’t agree with a man taking the knee and letting the ref count him out.”

The 31-year-old can expected a grilling from journalists once he’s recovered.

KARMA?

A few fight fans believe the painful end to Billy Joe Saunders’ night was comeuppance for his woeful treatment of a Mexican reporter.

TOO MUCH TO HANDLE

Canelo now has so many belts that he needs a member of his entourage to hold some of them!

The 30-year-old broke Saunders’ face to take the Brit’s WBO super-middleweight title and add it to his growing collection.

TIME TO JOE

Saunders will be out for a ‘long, long time’ and could even RETIRE following his brutal defeat to Canelo, according to promoter Eddie Hearn.

Speaking to iFL TV, Hearn said: “You could see as soon as he [Canelo] hit him [Saunders] that he’d done his eye socket.

“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%.”

SILLY BILLY

Saunders tried to taunt Canelo with the ‘Tyson Fury tongue’ before being smashed up and sent to hospital.

The British super-middleweight took a leaf out of his close pal’s textbook by sticking out his tongue during his title fight.

IN THE EU-BANK

Chris Eubank Jr landed a huge cash windfall after betting on Canelo Alvarez to stop Billy Joe Saunders – then called out the unified champ.

The British middleweight star stuck £10,000 on the Mexican to win the fight before it went the full 12 rounds.

And with odds of evens, he doubled his money when Saunders quit from his stool after the eighth.

In a video of him watching the moment BJS quit, Eubank Jr was in hysterics and called his fellow Brit a “wet bag”.

Now a charity of his choice is on course for a bumper donation with Eubank promising to give the winnings away to a good cause.

ANOTHER LOSS

Derek Chisora’s dreadful week went from bad to worse last night as he lost £8,500 after Billy Joe Saunders was beaten by Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez.

The British heavyweight suffered a second successive defeat eight days ago when he was on the wrong end of a split decision against Joseph Parker.

But Chisora was hoping his fortunes would change yesterday when he backed Saunders to cause a huge upset by beating Alvarez.

Earlier this week, Del Boy showed off a 10,000 euro bet he had placed on Saunders.

It showed the potential winnings as 62,000 euros.

Yet it wasn’t to be as Canelo fractured Saunders’ orbital socket with an uppercut in the eighth round which lead to the Brit’s trainer Mark Tibbs throwing in the towel before the start of the ninth.

TAKING THE MAC

Conor McGregor appears to have mocked Billy Joe Saunders after the British boxer’s corner threw in the towel at the end of the eighth round of his fight against Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez.

The former WBO super-middleweight champion suffered a fractured orbital socket following an uppercut from Canelo, an injury which saw his right eye completely close up.

And Saunders’ trainer Mark Tibbs decided to pull him out of the fight as a result, much to the disappointment of many boxing fans who had seen a thrilling fight up to that point.

UFC star McGregor had little sympathy – seemingly mocking Saunders with a picture of fellow MMA rival Nate Diaz.

The image was a bloodied shot of Diaz from UFC 202 when he and McGregor went to war for a second time.

Diaz’s right eye was almost entirely closed but he fought on for the five rounds, only to lose to the Irishman on the scorecards.

CANELO’S 15 BELTS

Canelo has now won a remarkable 15 world championship belts during his illustrious career.

The 30-year-old is a four-weight world champion and needs just the IBF belt – held by Caleb Plant – to complete his super-middleweight collection.