Eddie Hearn, promoter for former two-division champion Billy Joe Saunders, expects to see his boxer return to the ring in the future.

Saunders suffered his first defeat last Saturday night, when he was stopped in eight rounds by Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez in a WBA, WBO, WBC super middleweight unification at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

During the eight round, Canelo landed a big uppercut that fractured the orbital bone of Saunders' right eye.

Once he returned to the corner, the fight was stopped after Saunders informed his corner that he couldn't see from the injured eye.

He was taken to a local hospital and underwent surgery.

Another boxer that Hearn worked with in the past, Kell Brook, suffered a similar injury and was never the same fighter moving forward.

"Of course the injury is a concern moving forward, but also the desire," Hearn told Sky Sports News.

"He's boxed at the highest level. I thought he was tremendous on Saturday. He tried to win the fight. He came up against the pound-for-pound No 1. He got a horrendous injury. His trainer pulled him out, but he can hold his head up high, in my opinion, and he's still one of the best middleweights and super-middleweights in the world.

"His profile has risen greatly through it, but it is a tough sport, it was a bad injury, and when you've won two division world championships and tried to unify against the pound-for-pound No 1, what does the hunger say inside you? I think he's going to come back. I think he'll be hurting physically and emotionally from the defeat and we'll support him. I believe you'll see him back again."

Hearn also rejects the widespread criticism that implies Saunders outright quit when the going got tough.

"The whole thing about the quit syndrome - firstly his trainer pulled him out of the fight. Don't forget, if you watch that uppercut that landed, his face was caved in from that punch. As soon as he came out of the clinch, you could see the damage, and he went on for another minute-and-a-half of that round, taking big shots," Hearn said.

"He didn't take a knee, didn't turn his back. He stayed in there. When he went back to the corner and he told Mark Tibbs he couldn't see, Mark Tibbs just pulled him out of the fight. Any trainer would have done.

"If he would have gone out for that next round against a fighter like 'Canelo' Alvarez, who was ready to try and close the show, it's worrying to think what would have happened."