Billy Joe Saunders (30-1, 14 KOs) will be having surgery on Sunday to repair the multiple fractures he sustained to his right orbital bone from the impact of a crushing right uppercut from the power-puncher Canelo Alvarez last Saturday night at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
Mike Coppinger ran into Saunders’ promoter Eddie Hearn on Sunday at the John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth. Texas. Hearn told Mike that Billy Joe had suffered a “complete blowout” of his right orbital bone, which involved several fractures.
Saunders’ surgery will be taking place today to fix the problem, and hopefully, everything goes well. On social media, boxing fans are less than sympathetic upon hearing about the multiple fractures of Saunders’ right eye.
They point out that ‘He still quit,’ and they see it as a sign of weakness that he didn’t go out on his shield like a warrior.
It was one of those freak injuries that occur in boxing in which Saunders was hit with an uppercut from Canelo while he was in a bad position with his body leaning forward.
The way that Saunders’ face was pointing towards the canvas, he was in a perfect position for Canelo to hit him with a right uppercut, which he appeared to put everything into it.
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
Not surprisingly, Saunders showed no interest in fighting back after Canelo hurt him in the eighth round. From the moment Canelo tagged Saunders with a massive right uppercut, the outcome was no longer in doubt.
Saunders hoisted the white flag of surrender for all intents and purposes and went in full-scale retreat to survive the round without getting hit again.
After the eighth round ended, Saunders quit on his stool and was officially stopped.
Hearn not sure if Saunders will continue his career
“It depends on what he wants to do,” said Hearn to iFL TV about what direction Saunders will go in if he’s able to come back from his eye surgery.
“He made a s*** load of money tonight, he boxed on the biggest stage you can box on, he’s a two-weight world champion, and he just lost a unification fight to the pound-for-pound #1.
“Of course, he’ll be gutted because he came to win. But if he wants to carry on, there are some big fights there for him, but he may feel like he’s gotten to a stage where he’s been there, done that, and seen it all.
“It’s all about hunger now, really. If he wants to come back and improve and kick on. So, we’ll back him 100%. Listen, he was a big part of the show.
“We know Canelo is a superstar, but Billy Joe played a great role in this fight. He was just being himself. He wasn’t trying to hype it up; he was just being Billy Joe.
“I don’t think I’ve been a part of a better atmosphere,” said Hearn.