WBO #1 Ranked middleweight challenger Billy Joe Saunders, who challenges Irishman Andy Lee for the WBO World Middleweight Title on Saturday 19th December at the Manchester Arena, was bullish in his assessment about former foe Chris Eubank Jr in a recent comment.
Billy Joe Saunders
Andy Lee wants to unify title when/if he beats Saunders
By Scott Gilfoid: WBO middleweight champion Andy Lee (34-2-1, 24 KOs) hasn’t faced #1 WBO Billy Joe Saunders (22-0, 12 KOs) yet, but he’s already counting it as a victory in the win column for their December 19th fight at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, UK. Lee, 31, says he wants to unify the middleweight titles by facing the other middleweight champs instead of sitting on his title and trying to milk his title like some of the other champions tend to do.
As far as Lee unifying the middleweight titles, the only champion at 160 that he has any real chance of beating is WBA “regular” champion Daniel Jacobs. That would be a very, very tough fight for the 31-year-old Lee, and I have my doubts that he’d win it.
Andy Lee – Billy Joe Saunders fight rescheduled for 12/19
By Scott Gilfoid: #1 WBO 160lb contender Billy Joe Saunders (22-0, 12 KOs) will be facing WBO middleweight champion Andy Lee (34-2-1, 24 KOs) on December 19th in their rescheduled fight at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, England.
Thus far, the Lee-Saunders fight has been postponed twice due to Lee suffering an illness and Saunders getting cut in training. Now hopefully the fighters can make it in the ring in one piece to finally face each other on 12/19 in Manchester. You never know though. Anything can happen when you’ve got two guys that are having problems while trying to make it to the ring. For Saunders, 26, it’s a good time that he’s getting more time to train because he looked really flabby in his last fight against Yoann Bloyer last July.
Saunders weighed in for that fight at 173lbs, and he looked a lot heavier than that when he stepped foot into the ring. My guess is Saunders was in his mid-180s for that fight, and that’s a lot of weight for a middleweight. By having the Lee vs. Saunders fight take place on December 19th, it gives Saunders more time to melt off the weight that he put on.
Andy Lee vs. Billy Joe Saunders on December 19th
WBO World Middleweight Champion Andy Lee and challenger Billy Joe Saunders will finally collide at the Manchester Arena on Saturday 19th December in a Christmas extravaganza.
The premier 160lb fighters are raring to get in the ring and decide who is the best after seeing two previous postponements of their fight – Lee with a viral infection and Saunders with a cut eye – and both are promising to close the year with an explosive ending, live and exclusive on BoxNation.
Saunders suffers cut in sparring, Andy Lee fight postponed – again!
By Scott Gilfoid: Bad luck continues to follow the fight between WBO middleweight champion Andy Lee (34-2-1, 24 KOs) and Billy Joe Saunders (22-0, 12 KOs). Saunders, 26, reportedly suffered a cut over one of his eyes during sparring for his October 10th fight, and the fight will now need to be postponed again, according to Boxing News Online.
The Lee-Saunders fight will now be rescheduled for either November or December depending on the estimated healing time for the cut.
Lee-Saunders winner is the backup plan for Golovkin if Canelo-Cotto winner runs away
By Dan Ambrose: Trainer Abel Sanchez says that he believes that the winner of the Miguel Cotto vs. Saul “Canelo” Alvarez fight on November 21st will likely run away from a fight against WBC No.1 mandatory challenger Gennady Golovkin rather than taking the fight against him next year. Sanchez, who trains Golovkin, says it doesn’t matter if the Cotto-Canelo fight decides to dash away from the Golovkin fight, because they’ll be giving up the WBC middleweight title in the process.
That’s the belt that Golovkin is after. He doesn’t care if they both avoid him. He just wants the WBC 160lb title. The World Boxing Council president Mauricio Suliaman has already said that the winner of the Cotto vs. Canelo fight must fight Golovkin next if they want to keep the belt.
Andy Lee: Saunders is going to have to punch with me
By Scott Gilfoid: WBO middleweight champion Andy Lee (34-2-1, 24 KOs) isn’t too worried about the change of date and venue for his title defense against No.1 WBO Billy Joe Saunders (22-0, 12 KOs). Lee expects to be able to get the better of Saunders regardless of where the fight is staged. The fight will be taking place on October 10th at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, UK.
The fight was originally scheduled for September 19th in Limerick, Ireland. However, Lee came down with a virus, which made it necessary for the fight to be postponed until October. It’s unclear why the fight was moved from Ireland to Manchester, but I think it’ll work out favorably for Lee because with the fight being staged in England, it means that the crowd will be pro-Saunders all the way.
Flanagan vs. Magdaleno & Soro vs. Smith on Lee-Saunders card
By Scott Gilfoid: WBO 135lb champion Terry Flanagan (28-0, 11 KOs) will be making his first defense of his WBO lightweight strap on October 10th against #1 WBO Diego Magdaleno (28-1, 12 KOs) on the undercard of the Andy Lee vs. Billy Joe Saunders card at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, UK. The fight card will be televised on BoxNation in the UK.
The hulking 5’9 ½” southpaw Flanagan is coming off of a 2nd round injury stoppage of knockout artist Jose Zepeda last July. Rather than give the injured Zepeda a badly needed rematch, Flanagan is moving on and will be facing American Magdaleno in his next fight.
Andy Lee – Billy Joe Saunders moved to October 10th in Manchester, UK
By Scott Gilfoid: Poor WBO middleweight champion Andy Lee (34-2-1, 24 KOs) will now be defending his WBO title in front of his opponent Billy Joe Saunders’ fans on October 10th in Manchester, UK instead of on September 19th in Thomond Park in Limerick, Ireland. Lee, 31, came down with a virus. That’s what’s being said. Dan Rafael of ESPN had a different take on why the Lee-Saunders fight is being moved to October 10th.
“The word is the real reason Lee-Saunders was ppd is because they were selling no tickets in Limerick. #boxing,” Rafael said on his Twitter.
Saunders: I’ll Smash Lee Up
By Adam Beechers: Fresh from his 4th round TKO win on Friday night, WBO #1 fighter Billy Joe Saunders 22(12)-0 has stepped up the war of words ahead of his World title fight in September. Saunders, 25, is set to take on Andy Lee 34(24)-2 for the Irishman’s WBO World middleweight title. Saunders who beat France’s Yoann Bloyer was in a bullish mood as he looked to try and rattle his future opponent.
“Andy Lee is a good fighter but I’m going over there to smash him up and take his World title,” Saunders said to BoxNation. “If he said he’s going to knock me out in five rounds he’s talking crap and I can guarantee one thing a good smart boxer will always beat a brawler. I think Andy has got it in his mind too much about having that big punch but he won’t be getting lucky and landing it on me. Andy is a good fighter and a good champion who has done it the hard way and I have a lot of respect for him but believe me I am going to beat him.”