Canelo Alvarez allegedly told Eddie Hearn that he believes Billy Joe Saunders is “easy work” ahead of their super-middleweight unification after the fight was finally announced last Saturday. The Mexican successfully defended his WBA, WBC and Ring Magazine titles against Avni Yildirim in Miami by stopping the Turk in his tracks within three rounds.

Now Canelo is looking to unify the division as he prepares to take on WBO world champion Saunders, a year after the fight was postponed due to COVID-19.

The contest is the second of Canelo’s two-fight deal with Matchroom, with Hearn now targeting a longer contract with the pound-for-pound king.

Five of Hearn’s fighters – Amir Khan, Liam Smith, Rocky Fielding, Danny Jacobs and Callum Smith – have tried and failed against Canelo.

The four-weight world champion has needed no second invitation to remind Hearn of his achievements, since the pair’s collaboration.

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Now Saunders is bidding to buck the trend as he dares to be great, headlining a blockbuster card that is set to be stacked with Mexican talent on Cinco de Mayo day.

Yet in the view of Canelo, the Brit represents another routine evening’s work as he looks to add another belt to his collection.

Hearn told SiriusXM Boxing: “I said to him, ‘BJS is a tough fight.’

“He said, ‘Yeah, for three rounds.’ I said, ‘It won’t be easy work like Yildirim.’ He said, ‘Yildirim was easy work. Smith was easy work. Saunders is easy work.'”

Saunders, who celebrated the news by wearing an apron with a fake penis on his Instagram, has since joked that he only accepted the fight for a bumper payday.

“Alright people, I just wanted to say a big thank you to Canelo, I’m such a big fan,” he said.

“I’ve been training a long time for this, I’ve been waiting a long, long time.

“It’s been frustrating waiting, but thank you sir for this opportunity.

“I’m only just gonna come, pick my money up and go home, you know.

“It’s one of them. It’s gonna be good, it’s gonna be very good.

“I just wanna thank everybody this morning watching this, I’m just proud to be alive.

“I’m so happy to even be here taking part in this event.

“To take part in this event, obviously I’m not gonna win, just gonna go there, just turn up looking at the numbers.”

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