Billy Joe Saunders DENIES he quit against Canelo Alvarez and claims he fought for minute with broken eye socket
BILLY JOE SAUNDERS has quashed rumours he quit against Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez during their world title clash in May.
The 32-year-old’s team threw the towel in during the eighth round after the Mexican icon, 31, inflicted multiple eye fractures on the Brit.
Speaking to iFL TV, Saunders admitted: “If I wanted to go down on one knee with a broken eye socket, it could’ve easily been done.
“I went over a minute and still carried on… Anybody who knows me personally knows that’s not in me, ever.”
Saunders suffered his gruesome injury after Canelo produced a brutal uppercut in the eighth round, ending his unbeaten record.
The defeated champ came under fire afterwards for slamming Daniel Dubois the previous December for suffering a similar injury.
Saunders and Canelo were fighting for the unified super-middleweight world title and the latter was the favourite before the bout.
The Brit’s recent comments come after rival Chris Eubank Jr claimed Saunders quit against Canelo – despite suffering a serious injury.
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Eubank Jr is eyeing up a rematch with Saunders but the ex-champ is not overly keen on boxing again after making several investments.
Saunders added: “I’m not really worried if I box again. If I don’t box again, it doesn’t worry me. I’ve invested my money well.
“I have to go away to training for six or seven months. I have to take myself out of my comfort zone.
“There are certain fights that could get you up to do that. Obviously, a Canelo rematch would get me up to do that.
“They would have to be the right fights to get me back in boxing because I’m not interested in being a three-time world champion anymore.”