WBO World Middleweight Champion Andy Lee and his challenger Billy Joe Saunders are divided on who wins this Saturday’s mega-fight between Miguel Cotto and Saul Alvarez in Las Vegas, live and exclusive on BoxNation.
Lee and Saunders collide in their own super-fight on Saturday 19th December at the Manchester Arena, but they’ll be paying close attention as to who emerges the victor from the Puerto Rican-Mexican shoot-out as it impacts on the talent packed 160lb division ruled by Gennady Golovkin.
With Alvarez the favourite to win in the fight, Irishman Lee reckons Cotto will be come out on top.
He said, “I’m going against the grain and picking Cotto. He’s boxing very cleverly at the moment and I see him using all his experience to box around Canelo. At his best, Miguel has excellent rhythm and I believe he can use that to frustrate Alvarez who I expect will come looking to take him out with one spectacular punch. Cotto on points.”
Unbeaten challenger Saunders is tipping Alvarez, but would love to see Cotto win as he wants to fight him.
“I believe that Alvarez will be too fresh for Cotto. He’s got too much on his side like youth, strength and speed and I think Cotto may be just on the slide now. I think Alvarez will win by late stoppage, but it’s going to be a cracking fight. There’s a side of me that would like to see Cotto win because he was my favourite fighter as a kid and I would have like to have fought a great like him. Maybe I still could down the line, but first things first with me and I want to win that WBO World title from Lee.” Said Saunders.
Frank Warren’s end of year title extravaganza ‘X-Mas Cracker’ is headlined by two massive world title showdowns with WBO World Middleweight Champion Andy Lee defending his title against Billy Joe Saunders and WBO World Super-Welterweight Champion Liam Smith making his first title defence against Jimmy Kelly. A staggering SIX further titles are on the line with Mitchell Smith defending his WBO Intercontinental Super-Featherweight title against George Jupp; Paul Butler challenges for the Vacant WBO European Super-Flyweight Championship against Silvio Olteanu; Tommy Langford defends his WBO Intercontinental Middleweight Championship; Commonwealth Super-Welterweight Champion Liam Williams and Kris Carslaw clash with the Vacant British title also on the line; Jack Catterall defends his WBO Intercontinental Super-Lightweight Championship, and Adrian Gonzalez defends his WBO Intercontinental Lightweight Championship. Plus the undercard features Merseyside favourite Derry Mathews and Indian superstar Vijender Singh.
Tickets are priced at £40, £50, £75, £100, £200 and £300 are available from:
www.frankwarren.com
TicketMaster
0844 844 0444
www.ticketmaster.co.uk
Eventim
0844 249 1000
www.eventim.co.uk
Manchester Arena
0161 950 5000
0161 950 5229 (disabled access bookings)
www.manchester-arena.co.uk
*Tickets are subject to a booking fee.
The Channel Of Champions, BoxNation, will televise Cotto v Alvarez and Lee v Saunders live and exclusive on Sky 437/HD 490, Virgin 546 and Talk Talk 415. Subscribe at www.boxnation.com Or watch online at Livesport.tv and via iPhone, iPad or Android.
