Saunders vs. Akavov

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.

read more

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.

read more

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.

read more

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.

read more

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.

read more

By Scott Gilfoid: The World Boxing Organization has ordered WBO middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders (23-0, 12 KOs) to fight back to back mandatory defenses of his WBO 160lb title due to his inactivity since winning their belt in 2015, according to Fight News. However, one of Saunders’ mandatory defenses might wind up being Saul Canelo Alvarez if the WBO catapults him above the current #1 Avtandil Khurtsidze.

Some in the boxing world might see that as being unfair to Khurtsidze, because he’s been Saunders’ No.1 contender for some time, and he STILL hasn’t been given a title shot. For Canelo to jump ahead of Khurtsidze to become the NEW mandatory challenger might look strange.

read more

By Scott Gilfoid: WBO middleweight title holder Billy Joe Saunders has suffered an injury training for his voluntary title defense against fringe contender Artur Akavov. As such, Saunders’ defense, which was scheduled for October 22, has been postponed until November 26 at the Motorpoint Arena in Cardiff, Wales.

It’s unclear what will happen if Saunders suffers yet another injury while preparing for the new November 26 date. Will the WBO strip Saunders or allow him to keep postponing fight dates? You would hope that Saunders can eventually make it into the ring to make his maiden defense of his WBO title, because he’s been inactive for the entire year thus far.

The contenders in the WBO’s top 15 at middleweight haven’t had a chance to challenge for Saunder’s title. If he keeps getting injured like this over and over again, it’s going to be a real negative for the contenders and the boxing fans. Having the WBO title defended once a year is probably not a good thing for the WBO as well. Hopefully, Saunder’s injury problems don’t become a common occurrence for him as the WBO’s champion.

read more