The May 8 fight between Canelo Alvarez and Billy Joe Saunders will have an official venue announced this week, and it looks like AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, will likely be the destination for the DAZN-streamed bout.
Hearn hinted over the weekend in Dallas that Canelo-Saunders would take place “very close” to the arena where Estrada-Chocolatito 2 was held, but when pressed about it later in the night, he wouldn’t commit — though he hinted pretty clearly.
“I must have said it under my mask! I think I had a mask on,” Hearn said with a smile. “It’ll be here in America.”
When asked if Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones would be happy with him, Hearn winked and replied, “We’ll see.”
During the COVID pandemic, Texas has become a bigger home than normal for big-fight boxing in the United States. The Alamodome in San Antonio held the Gervonta Davis-Leo Santa Cruz card last October and Canelo-Callum Smith in December, and Errol Spence Jr fought Danny Garcia at AT&T Stadium in early December. Ryan Garcia-Luke Campbell was held in Dallas on Jan. 2, and of course Estrada-Chocolatito 2 was also held at the same venue, the American Airlines Center.
Canelo just fought on Feb. 27 at Hard Rock Stadium outside of Miami, and Hearn recently said that Las Vegas and Dallas were both in the mix for Canelo-Saunders. Texas has opened up quicker than most states, and it has the available venues, and has also proven to be able to handle the still-unique situations for big fights.
Alvarez has fought at AT&T Stadium before, beating another Brit, Liam Smith, at the home of the Cowboys in 2016.
Canelo (55-1-2, 37 KO) will be defending the WBC and WBA super middleweight titles, while Saunders (30-0, 14 KO) brings the WBO title to the table. This will be the second of Canelo’s two-fight deal with Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing, and he says he hopes to keep working with the Mexican superstar after the Saunders bout.
“We have a great relationship at the moment, we’re doing a great job for him. There are so many more things I want to do, and look, I represent Billy Joe Saunders, as well. He’s going for the win. He’s going to try to beat him. But if he’s not successful, then hopefully ourselves and Canelo extend that relationship for many years to come.”