CHANGE OF HEART
Ring Magazine forced to apologise to Billy Joe Saunders for ‘no heart’ tweet after quitting against Canelo Alvarez
RING MAGAZINE were forced to apologise to Billy Joe Saunders for their now-deleted tweet accusing the Brit of having 'no heart'.
Saunders was pulled out by his corner in round eight against Canelo after a right uppercut caused significant facial damage.
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The southpaw, who came into the fight unbeaten, was accused by many of quitting despite the horrifying and career-threatening injury.
Among the critics were Ring Magazine, who call themselves the 'Bible of Boxing' as a tweet read 'BILLY "NO HEART" SAUNDERS'.
It caused outrage online and was swiftly taken down.
Ring Magazine have now apologised and explained it was posted by accident.
They tweeted: "In regards to the inappropriate Billy Joe Saunders Tweet: This was not posted by editorial but someone who helps with social media.
"They have inadvertently sent a Tweet from this account rather than their own.
"The person has apologized and The Ring would also like to apologize to Team Saunders, the fans and the boxing community for any offense caused by this horrible error."
Saunders, 31, later confirmed on Facebook he suffered a broken eye socket and cheekbone but vowed 'I'll be back'.
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The two-weight champion was down on all three scorecards but had started to find success in the middle stages of the fight.
It was ultimately his trainer Mark Tibbs who rightfully ended the fight to prevent further damage.
Since the result, comments made by Saunders in December about heavyweight Daniel Dubois, 23, have resurfaced.
Dubois took a knee against Joe Joyce, 35, after being left with a similar cracked eye socket.
Saunders said at the time: "If my two eye sockets were broken, my jaw was broken, my teeth were out, my nose was smashed, my brain was beaten, I was not stopping until I was knocked out or worse."
Having been retired on the stool by his team, Dubois responded in an interview with Queensberry Promotions.
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He said: “It's amazing how life works. I thought Billy did well and it was a good fight up until that point.
"He was making it awkward and then the punch happened and Mark had to stop the fight. I had to f****** go through that one didn't I?
“He made his decision really quickly but I'm not going to rub it in for Billy.
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“He will be going through it now with the eye injury and how the fight ended.
“Maybe he will regret what he said about me, maybe this might teach him something. It could be a life lesson.”
Billy Joe Saunders’ coach Tibbs says he stopped the Canelo fight because he had too much love for the Brit to send him back out
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