English southpaw Billy Joe Saunders battles Mexico's Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez in a super-middleweight unification bout from Arlington, Texas, on Saturday. The main card from AT&T Stadium is set to begin at 8 p.m. ET (watch on DAZN, sign up here) in front of an expected crowd of approximately 70,000. Saunders will be out to defend his WBO super-middleweight crown, while Alvarez will look to retain his WBA (Super), WBC and The Ring super-middleweight title. The winner is then expected to book a date with IBF super middleweight champion Caleb Plant.
Alvarez is a -650 favorite (risk $650 to win $100), while Saunders is priced at +475 in the latest Canelo vs. Saunders odds from William Hill Sportsbook. The over-under for total rounds expected is set at 10.5. Before finalizing any Saunders vs. Canelo picks, make sure you check out the boxing predictions from SportsLine combat sports analyst Brandon Wise.
Wise, who is the combat sports editor for CBS Sports, first made an impact with SportsLine members with his UFC and MMA predictions, providing additional value because of his knack for not only predicting winners but nailing the method of victory as well.
Wise specializes in picking main-card fights for UFC, which has enabled him to be profitable every year. In fact, Wise went a perfect 5-0 at UFC 239 and was 4-1 at both UFC 245 and UFC 249. He also nailed Khabib Nurmagomedov's destruction of Conor McGregor in 2018, Stipe Miocic's defeat of Daniel Cormier, Max Holloway's downfall in 2019 and Justin Gaethje's TKO victory over Tony Ferguson in May of last year.
Wise, who is the combat sports editor for CBS Sports, also is an experienced boxing analyst. Just last month, Wise told SportsLine members to back Jamel Herring (+105) against Carl Frampton (-125) for the WBO junior lightweight title. Herring scored a TKO to give his followers an easy winner. Anyone who has followed Wise's combat sports selections is way up.
Now, with Saturday's showdown fast approaching, Wise has studied Canelo Alvarez vs. Billy Joe Saunders from every angle, identified the best value in the boxing odds and released highly confident picks. Head to SportsLine to see all of his boxing picks.
Canelo Alvarez vs. Billy Joe Saunders preview
Wise notes that Saunders is a complex boxer that Alvarez will need to solve if he is to continue his recent success. Alvarez was relentless and pounded his last opponent, Turkey's Avni Yildirim, who was forced to retire after the third round of their Feb. 27 bout in Miami Gardens, Fla.
Prior to that, Alvarez posted a 12-round unanimous decision win over Great Britain's Callum Smith in December, following a 13-month layoff due to the coronavirus. He had won the WBO light heavyweight championship by knocking out Russia's Sergey Kovalev on Nov. 2, 2019.
Saunders has been equally successful and is coming off a dominant performance over Martin Murray of Great Britain, winning by unanimous decision on Dec. 4. Like Alvarez, Saunders also experienced a long layoff after defeating Argentina's Marcelo Esteban Coceres by knockout in the 11th round on Nov. 9, 2019.
Saunders first won the vacant WBO super-middleweight crown in May of 2019 by pounding Germany's Shefat Isufi. Saunders won by unanimous decision in their 12-round bout. Wise is only sharing his coveted picks here.
How to make Saunders vs. Canelo picks
Wise likes the fight going over 10.5 total rounds. He's also made the call on which side of the money line to back, and has identified a must-see plus-money prop pick. You can see all of his picks and analysis here.
Who wins Canelo vs. Saunders? And which plus-money prop is a must-back? Visit SportsLine now to see Brandon Wise's best bets for Saturday, all from the CBS combat sports specialist who was all over Jamel Herring's win, and find out.
