The highly-anticipated super-middleweight unification clash between WBC and WBA (Super) champion of the world Canelo Álvarez (55-1-2, 37 KOs) and WBO titleholder Billy Joe Saunders (30-0, 14 KOs) is heading for the AT&T Stadium on 8th May, home of the Dallas Cowboys.
Following the announcement of the 168-pound title fight to determine the unified super-middleweight champion back in early March, the two most probable locations to host Canelo vs Saunders had come down to either Arlington or Las Vegas.
Vegas, which hosts numerous combat sports from boxing to MMA, has been widely regarded as the “Mecca of boxing” and in the last couple of decades has seen some of the biggest combat sports events.
However, it was the Texan city of Arlington that won the race to host another grand affair of boxing, after the governor Greg Abbott eased the COVID-19 restrictions across all public places earlier this month.
Canelo Álvarez returns to Arlington after almost five years to face Saunders
The At&T Stadium, which has been home to the five-time Super Bowl champions Dallas Cowboys since 2009, has an estimated capacity of over 100K spectators, but for the Canelo vs Saunders night, somewhere from 60K to 70K audience is speculated to be present on 8th May.
The news was first reported by Mike Coppinger of The Athletic, in the late hours of Thursday, and a follow-up post was noticed from Eddie Hearn.
What’s interesting to note, this will be Canelo’s second professional bout at the AT&T Stadium, since knocking out Liam Smith in the 9th round for the WBO light-middleweight title back in September 2016.
The winner of the fight will become the unified champion at 168 and is set to face the IBF titleholder Caleb Plant, which will determine the undisputed super-middleweight champion.
Coming off of a dominating 4th round victory over Avni Yildirim, Canelo will be defending his WBC and WBA (Super) belts against his British adversary, the titles he clinched back in December last year against Callum Smith.
On the other hand, Saunders has two consecutive successful title defenses to boost his confidence ahead of facing the number one pound-for-pound boxer in the world. “Superb” was last seen in action against compatriot Martin Murray in December last year, defending his WBO belt for the second time, which he won against Shefat Isufi back in November 2019 via unanimous decision.
