By Dan Ambrose: WBO middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders’ promoter Frank Warren says that he, Saunders and their team and are going to be sitting down in the first two weeks of January to decide which direction they want to go in for Saunders’ next fight, which Warren would like to take place in March or April. He wants Saunders to fight three times in 2016, ideally.
A unification fight against IBF/IBO/WBA middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin is a possibility, says Warren, but it’s going to have to be the fight they all decide on. It has to be the fight at the right moment in terms of maximizing the money available, and in terms of Saunders’ development as a fighter.
A fight doesn’t look like a realistic option for Saunders’ next fight unless Golovkin’s management comes up with a huge offer in a hurry that Saunders can’t refuse. Just how much they would need to come up with is unknown. Saunders previously was talking 4 million pounds [$6 million USD], but perhaps he might change his mind about that.
It’s not realistic to assume that Golovkin’s promoters at K2 Promotions will be able to come up with $6 million to give to Saunders in order for him to accept the fight. I don’t know if that kind of money will ever be found for a fight of that nature unless Saunders becomes popular like Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and Miguel Cotto.
Saunders says that contender Chris Eubank Jr. needs to beat WBA “regular” middleweight champion Daniel Jacobs and then come back if he wants to fight him. Saunders says he’d be open to fighting Eubank Jr. in a unification fight if he beats Jacobs, but he feels he’s got to earn the shot rather than him doing the hard work and giving him a title shot that he didn’t have to work for. Saunders did the hard work in beating Andy Lee recently to win the WBO middleweight title.
“There has been a couple of offers made,” Warren said to IFL TV. “There is a lot to discuss. It’s nice to get the offers. Even if we go down that [Golovkin] road, it would have to be for more money than they offered. In an ideal world, I’d like to see Bill fight in March and have at least three fights this year, and be meaningful fights. I’ve not had any dialogue with his [Golovkin] manager at all. In the first or second weeks of January, we’re going to make up our minds which direction we’re going to go in. Bill obviously has the final say, and we’re going to go from there. It’s something to be considered. The Golovkin fight is a very, very tough fight. We know he’s a quality fighter. If the terms were right and the fight was at the right time, I’m sure we’d look at that absolutely. People underestimate Bill’s punching power. Bill is a boxer, a good boxer. He can box and he can move. Styles make fights, as they say, and there has been so many upsets in boxing in the last year. I believe Bill will get better in my opinion, and hopefully we’ll in the position to unify the belts. Of course, it’s about money. It’s about picking the right fights. At the moment, he’ got the opportunity to choose. We’re not going to be driven by nobody. I’m not going to let it happen,” Warren said.
When asked when Saunders will be fighting against, Warren said “March, April, probably March. We’re going to get it sorted out very quickly, and we’re going to go from there. He’s never turned down anybody I’ve put in front of him. We’re going to sit down all of us and go through it, and look at the ins and outs and the financial aspects of it. It is the right time of year for it? If the fight is over here, you’d be looking to get in a good size venue. You wouldn’t want to do it indoors. You’d want to do it outdoors. If that fight is made, and we’re not saying we’re not going to make it, it’s got to be made to maximize revenue. It’s a big fight. We don’t want to turn it into a small fight. It’s a big fight. You’ve got one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in Golovkin at the moment, and Bill, who as I say has done everything and done it the hard way,” Warren said.
Golovkin is probably going to need to think about fighting his IBF mandatory challenger Tureano Johnson next, because it does not look like Saunders is ready to take the fight with him just yet. That could change if K2 came up with some big money to throw at Saunders, but I don’t think they’re going to be able to come up with the money that will be needed to get him to take the fight.
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