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.