Billy Joe Saunders suffered the first loss of his career on Saturday when a brutal eye injury led to a corner stoppage before the ninth round of his super-middleweight title unification bout with Canelo Alvarez.
If Saunders had some success in the middle portion of the fight, Canelo shut the door on him for good with a sharp uppercut that caused Saunders’ right eye to swell up in round eight. More uppercuts and other clean shots capped off a dominant round of the current WBC, WBA, and WBO champion before the Englishman returned to his corner.
For all of the discussion surrounding Saunders quitting (which included the DAZN broadcast), the injury he suffered was indeed quite serious and figures to keep him shelved for a long time.