By Dan Ambrose: WBO middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders says he’s not going to be fighting IBF/IBO/WBA middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin in the United States because he doesn’t trust the judging over there. Saunders doesn’t think he’ll get the win if the fight is close. Saunders feels that even if he beats Golovkin by two rounds, the judges won’t give him the victory.
Saunders does think he’s got the boxing skills to out-box the hard hitting Golovkin if the fight does every take place, but it’ll have to be in the UK. Saunders is willing to take less money to fight Golovkin in the UK, because he’s confident that he’ll be able to beat him.
Saunders pulled out of his scheduled fight against Max Bursak this week, as he said he has a hand injury. The injury came at the right time for Saunders, because he’s in the right place to get a fight against Golovkin if he beats Dominic Wade in their fight this month on April 23. Not having the Bursak fight to worry about, Saunders can sign for a fight against Golovkin relatively quickly if he can’t make an agreement to fight WBC middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez in September.
“I’ll travel to the states for anyone but Golovkin,” said Saunders. “I can box anyone else in the world. They can never give me a decision. If I do that to Golovkin and beat him by two rounds, do you think the judges are going to give me the win? Not in a million years. To beat Golovkin, you to be cute and very clever, and one of those people where nothing gets in your mind. If I fought Golovkin, I want it in my country. That’s all I ask. If he can go to France and fight, then why not come 20 minutes on the plane and fight me here? He’s got a chance to pick up another belt. He’s going to get well paid, and I’d take less money to fight him in England,” said Saunders.
With Golovkin having knocked out 21 opponents in a row, I don’t think Saunders would need to worry too much about being robbed by the judges in America. Golovkin would very likely take the judges out of the equation if he were to fight Saunders. You have to realize that Golovkin has faced a lot of guys that would very likely beat Saunders if given the chance to fight him. If Golovkin can knockout guys like David Lemieux, Martin Murray and Willie Monroe, then the chances are high that he’d do the same thing to Saunders.
Golovkin and his promoter Tom Loeffler have already said their first priority is to try and line up a fight against WBC middleweight champion Canelo after he gets done defending his title against Amir Khan on May 7. If they’re unable to get Canelo to agree to a fight, then they’ll move on and tray and get Saunders for the fight. I think there’s a good chance that Golovkin will face Saunders next, but we won’t know that until shortly after Canelo’s May 7 fight against Amir Khan.