Nevada State Athletic Commission suspended all combat sports until their next meeting on the 25th of March due to the coronavirus pandemic. At that time, they’ll decide whether to extend the ban or lift it.
It’s believed by some that the Nevada Commission will choose to extend the suspension at that time unless there’s a drop off in cases. There’s been a recent spike in deaths from the coronavirus, which stands at 5,835 worldwide.
Saunders could lose the dream fight
In the near term, if the Nevada Commission opts to extend their ban on combat sports into May, it’ll upend the plans for Canelo Alvarez to fight Billy Joe Saunders. That fight is supposed to take place in Las Vegas on May 2.
An announcement for the Canelo-Saunders fight is expected to take place next week. The Nevada Commission suspending all combat sports indefinitely puts the Canelo vs. Saunders fight in jeopardy.
Poor Saunders. He’s been waiting for years to get a fight against Canelo, and finally, when it looks about to get it, the coronavirus pandemic erupts and wipes out his opportunity.
The payday that Saunders will get in fighting Canelo would be huge. At this point, Saunders might be out of luck because Canelo has the trilogy fight that he needs to make against Gennadiy Golovkin in September. If Canelo can’t get the fight with Saunders done by June, then he’ll throw up his hands, and say, ‘Oh well, I tried.’
Trump extending travel ban to the UK
U.S President Donald Trump revealed this week that he’s extending a travel ban to the UK because of new cases in that country of people contracting the coronavirus. If that travel ban stays in place, it could keep Saunders’ boxing fans from flying over to the U.S. to see him fight Canelo. Of course, none of that would matter if the Nevada Commission keeps its ban in place for combat sports.
With just 11 days to go before the March 25th meeting of the Nevada Commission, it’s not likely that there will be a drop off of new cases from the coronavirus.
Several big fights could be stopped by ban
Fights that could be affected by the Nevada Commission’s suspension of combats sports in their states are these matches:
- Luis Nery vs. Aaron Alameda – March 28
- Naoya Inoue vs. John Riel Casimero – April 25
- Canelo Alvarez vs. Billy Joe Saunders – May 2
“Nevada commission held an emergency meeting today and suspended all activity until March 25. That’s when the next scheduled meeting is. Simply procedural. The suspension of activity will be officially extended at that March 25 meeting. The question now: when will it be lifted?” said Mike Coppinger.
‘Sources: Nevada State Athletic Commission has suspended all combat sporting events indefinitely due to #COVIDー19. Canelo-Saunders can’t be scheduled until the ban lifted. Affects UFC events relocated to APEX (March 28 & April 11) along with PBC (March 28) and Top Rank (April 11).”