Billy Joe Saunders

De La Hoya: Saunders’ offer cut in half for Canelo fight

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By Dan Ambrose: Oscar De La Hoya says the offer that he made to WBO middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders for a fight against Golden Boy Promotions star Saul “Canelo” Alvarez is now going to be cut in half due to Saunders’ poor performance last Saturday night against fringe contender Artur Akavov at the Lagoon Centre in Paisley, Scotland.

Saunders (24-0, 12 KOs) looked very, very poor in winning a narrow 12 round unanimous decision over the Russian Akavov (16-2, 7 KOs) by the scores 116-113, 116-112 and 116-113. There were a lot of boxing fans who felt that Akavov did enough to deserve the victory or at least a draw. However, Saunders was the home fighter in terms of him being from the UK and Akavov being the visiting fighter from the U.S, which is where he now lives.

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Billy Joe Saunders V Artur Akavov review

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By Rob Maclean: Yesterday evening saw Billy Joe Saunders (24-0, 12kos) successfully defend his WBO middleweight title for the first time, since he defeated Andy Lee in December of last year in beating Artur Akavov (18-2, 7 KOs) at the Lagoon Leisure Centre, in Paisley, Scotland, United Kingdom. Understandably Saunders was sluggish, however in what should have been a simple victory against American based Russian Akavov soon turned into an extremely competitive struggle to keep his title.

The first two rounds began with a low scoring chess match between two southpaws, with Saunders probably doing enough, as challenger Akavov tried forcing the action however failed to land. However by round 3 Akavov found the target as Saunders languished on the ropes, Akavov landed a left to the top of Saunders head.

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Is Saunders ready for Golovkin and Canelo?

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By Scott Gilfoid: WBO middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders (24-0, 12 KOs) had one of his poorer performances of his career last Saturday night in defeating hungry challenger Artur Akavov (16-2, 7 KOs) by a 12 round unanimous decision at the Paisley Lagoon Centre in Glasgow, Scotland. Saunders fought like a really rusty fighter against Akavov.

It’s not surprising though, because Saunders was coming off of a one-year layoff from boxing. With that much time off, Saunders was very fortunate to win the fight, period. Some fighters are never the same when they return to the sport after a long layoff like the one that Saunders had.

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Saunders wants tune-ups before Golovkin & Canelo fights

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By Scott Gilfoid: WBO middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders (24-0, 12 KOs) wasn’t happy with his 12 round unanimous decision win on Saturday night over challenger Artur Akavov (16-2, 7 KOs) in his voluntary defense at the Lagoon Leisure Centre in Paisley, Scotland. Saunders felt that he was poor in the fight, because he had been out of the ring for an entire year. The judges gave Saunders the win by the scores 116-11, 116-112 and 115-113.

I along with a number of boxing fans felt that Saunders didn’t do enough to deserve the win. I scored it a draw. However, if I were to pick a winner between them, I would go with the 31-year-old Akavov, because he was the one who was working harder the entire fight. Saunders was just loafing along the ropes, looking lazy and not willing to work hard for the full three minutes of each round. Akavov lost, but I think he would have won if the fight had been in a different venue.

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Billy Joe Saunders vs. Artur Akavov -Results

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By Scott Gilfoid: WBO middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders (24-0, 2 KOs) retained his WBO 160lb title in beating #10 WBO fringe contender Artur Akavov (16-2, 7 KOs) by a controversial 12 round unanimous decision on Saturday night at the Lagoon Leisure Centre, in Paisley, Scotland.

The judges scored the fight 116-113, 116-112 and 115-113 for Saunders. Boxing News 24 scored the fight 6-6 with neither guy winning. I actually had Akavov winning the fight 8 rounds to 4, but I gave Saunders two mercy rounds where the rounds were slightly close but not close enough for him to win them outright.

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Saunders targeting Golovkin after Akavov

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By Eric Baldwin: WBO middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders has targeted middleweight champ Gennady “GGG” Golovkin in 2017 after he takes care of business on Saturday night against Artur Akavov at the Lagoon Leisure Centre in Glasgow, Scotland. This is the first of what Saunders hopes is many more defenses of his WBO title.

We’ll soon see if he’s got what it takes to get beyond one successfully defense. A win for Saunders over Akavov is almost assured, as the Russian was picked out from near the bottom of the World Boxing Organization’s rankings. However, this will be the last easy fight for Saunders for some time, because he’s either going to need to take a unification next or face his mandatory challenger, which could be Saul Canelo Alvarez or Avtantil Khurtsidze.

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Billy Joe Saunders talks Artur Akavov fight

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By Scott Gilfoid: WBO middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders (23-0, 12 KOs) defends his title this Saturday night against challenger Artur Akavov (16-1,7 KOs) in what he hopes will lead to big fights in 2017. Saunders says he wants a fight against middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin, and he would also like a fight against Saul Canelo Alvarez, who he feels he’s confident he can beat comfortably.

Saunders and Akavov will be fighting this Saturday night at the Lagoon Leisure Centre, in Paisley, Scotland.

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Billy Joe Saunders vs. Artur Akavov this Saturday

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By Scott Gilfoid: WBO middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders (23-0 12 KOs) will be finally be making his first defense of his title this Saturday night on December 3 against #10 WBO Artur Akavov (16-1, 7 KOs) at the Paisley Lagoon Centre in Glasgow, Scotland.

It’s good that Saunders is finally getting around to defending his title, because it’s been WAY too long for someone that won his title a year ago on December 19 in beating Andy Lee. You can argue World Boxing Organization really gave Saunders a HUGE break by not pulling the trigger in stripping him of his WBO strap, because the WBO wasted no time in stripping Dem
Saunders canceled one title defense against Max Bursak after suffering an injury that erased their April 30th fight.

Saunders had a chance to fight on Saul Canelo vs. Liam Smith card on September 17, but he failed to do so. Saunders opted not to take on any of the options offered to him by Golden Boy Promotions.

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Saunders-Akavov postponed – again

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By Scott Gilfoid: For boxing fans still interested in seeing WBO middleweight title holder Billy Joe Saunders make his first defense of his title against little known #10 WBO fringe contender Artur Akavov, they’re going to need to wait another week, as the fight has been scheduled from November 26 to Dec.3

The Saunders-Akavov fight was supposed to be taking place at the Motorpoint Arena in Cardiff on Saturday. Instead, it will be fought at the Lagoon Leisure Centre in Paisley, Scotland. This obviously isn’t good news. As for the reason for the postponement, there was delay in receiving paperwork from the 30-year-old Akavov.

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Canelo vs. Saunders possible for May 2017

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By Dan Ambrose: It’s looking like WBO junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez could be fighting WBO middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders (23-0, 12 KOs) by May of 2017 on Cinco de Mayo weekend. Canelo (48-1-1, 34 KOs) isn’t ranked in the top 15 at 160, but it doesn’t matter, because he recently captured the World Boxing Organization154lb title with a 9th round knockout over Liam Smith last September.

By capturing the WBO junior middleweight title, it enables Canelo to become the mandatory challenger to Saunders despite the fact that he’s not ranked at all in the WBO’s top 15 ranking at middleweight.

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