Billy Joe Saunders has plenty of options after putting on a dominant performance to defeat Shefat Isufi at the Lamex Stadium in Stevenage, England on Saturday night.
The unbeaten new WBO super middleweight champion can look toward a big domestic clash against World Boxing Super Series winner and WBA super middleweight champion Callum Smith or he could try to lock down a fight with Saul "Canelo" Alvarez at 168 pounds. He could also step back down to middleweight in attempt to catch Canelo there or line up a shot against Gennady Golovkin or Demetrius Andrade, who holds the WBO belt Saunders had to vacate after his failed VADA anti-doping test.
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All options are enticing for Saunders (28-0, 13 KOs), but there's one that he'd especially like.
“I would love to fight Canelo — that’s the fight I would love," Saunders said during his post-fight press conference. "He’s a super middleweight world champion, but I don’t like all the weight clauses they put on opponents. But I would love have a 168[-pound] fight against Canelo.”
Hall of Fame promoter Frank Warren added: “I don’t think there’s anyone out there that can beat him, I feel he has the potential to be the British fighter of his generation if we can maneuver him into the big fights. There’s a great big fight to be made in this country against Callum Smith — it’s a fantastic fight to make, that would sell out anywhere.”
Saunders dominated Isufi on Saturday night, with all three judges scoring him as the clear winner: 120-108, 117-111 and 118-110.
Saunders was in complete control against Isufi from the opening round, but he was caught by a heavy right hand in the sixth round that had the former middleweight champion stumbling backwards and having to survive the onslaught from the Germany-based Serbian fighter. But after surviving that brief attack from Isufi, Saunders took his foot off the gas and coasted to the unanimous decision victory.