saunders45 By Scott Gilfoid: Well, it seems WBO middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders (23-0, 12 KOs) is a little thin-skinned about the choice of his next opponent Max Bursak (32-4-1, 15 KOs) for his fight on April 30th on BoxNation from the Copper Box Arena in London, UK.

Instead of Saunders agreeing with his loyal fans that his opponent is less than a good one, Saunders struck back at his critics on social media today.

Here’s what Saunders had to say about the fans who are taking shots at him about the Bursak fight:

”People who think that they got a right to pick who I fight can [expletive] off I fight who my manager and promoter put in front of me! PS#WBOCHAMP.”

Oh my, look at how Saunders is snapping at his fans just because they’re not happy with his opponent. It’s so sad to see Saunders like this when he’s not showing his best side. Whatever happened to turning the other cheek? I hate to see Saunders like this with him blowing his top.

Ever since the Saunders-Bursak fight was announced on Monday of this week, the 26-year-old Saunders has been getting flogged by boxing fans, who are less than pleased with the choice of his opponent. It’s not that the 31-year-old Bursak isn’t a top tier ranked fighter, it’s that there arguably much better opposition out there than him.

To look at it from Saunder’s perspective, the Bursak fight is basically Saunders reverting back to form. I mean, Saunders has been fighting mostly fodder thought most of his career. He’s only had two or three decent opponents during his seven-year pro career in my view. Look at some of the guys Saunders recently fought: Yoann Bloyer, Emanuele Blandamura, Gary O’Sullivan, John Ryder and Matthew Hall. I hate to say it, but those are soft jobs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_h9BVkQw2HI

The last time I checked, none of them are major players in the middleweight division. Am I wrong? Yeah, Saunders recently fought Andy Lee and Chris Eubank Jr., but those were fights that were a brief break from Saunders’ pattern of fighting weak opponents. Future events cast their shadows before. With Saunders fighting Bursak, he’s just doing what he’s done in the past in fighting weak opponents. There’s no reason for boxing fans to get mad at Saunders, because he’s just doing what he’s pretty much done all along.

Saunders had a chance to make big money by fighting IBF/IBO/WBO middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin. According to ESPN, Saunders had a chance for a seven-figure payday if he had fought Golovkin. My guess is Saunders will make less than that in facing Bursak.
Bursak has lost in the past to these guys: Zac Dunn, Jarrod Fletcher, and Martin Murray. Those were recent defeats for Bursak. I’m not sure why the World Boxing Organization still has Bursak ranked in their top 10 after his defeats against those guys.

It’s very odd to me to see Bursak ranked #11 with the WBO, and ranked above #13 WBO Hassan N’Dam and #14 WBO Dominic Wade. I think those guys would totally destroy Bursak. The WBO needs to get their act together and fix their rankings because Bursak is ranked too high with them in my view. He needs to be dropped to around the 100 spot, because that’s where I see him. What’s interesting here is that none of the other sanctioning bodies has Bursak ranked in their top 15. So why does the WBO have Bursak ranked in their top 15 and why do they have him at #11 ahead of arguably far more talented fighters like N’Dam and Wade? I mean, if Bursak can’t even beat the likes of Murray, Fletcher and Dunn, then I sure as heck don’t see him being able to beat fighters like Wade and N’Dam.