SAN FRANCISCO, May 10, (THEWILL) – After the super middleweight unification fight that left Billy Joe Saunders needing to be taken immediately to the hospital to have a swollen eye checked up due to an explosive upper cut he took to the eye from his TKO loss to Canelo Alvarez on Saturday, it has been revealed that Saunders suffered a quadripod fracture to his orbital bone.
The 31-year-old was transported to John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth, Texas after the fight and underwent surgery on Sunday. As THEWILL reported, the unification bout was stopped after eight rounds due to the swelling of Saunders’ eye.
When Eddie Hearn, the English Boxing Promoter and Group Managing Director of Matchroom Sport, checked on Saunders in the hospital, he confirmed the fracture and said: “He’s going to be out for a long, long time,” as he will need “several months” of recovery time.
The prognosis seems to assume that there is no guarantee Saunders will be able to resume his career on the other side of recovering from the fracture.
Although the fight was close and competitive in the middle rounds, some vicious punches from Canelo in the eighth visibly hurt Saunders and then came the upper cut to the right eye that caused it to swell up and close. This meant Saunders was unable to get off his stool and go out for the ninth round, and his corner gave up the fight.
Coincidentally, until the stoppage, all the judges had Canelo ahead on points. One judge had it 77-75 for Canelo, while the two others had it 78-74. He now holds the World Boxing Organisation (WBO), World Boxing Association (WBA) and World Boxing Council (WBC) titles at the 168 pounds division.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
