Billy Joe Saunders to Fight Martin Murray…we hope!
It is now official that WBO world super middleweight champion “Superb” Billy Joe Saunders (29-0, 14 KO’s) will make his second title defense against Martin Murray (39-5-1, 17 KO’s). The bout is slated to take place on December 4 in London’s Wembley Arena…we hope!
This is now the third time that Murray and Saunders were scheduled to fight. On both previous occasions, it was Saunders who pulled.
Superb has a frustrating knack for blowing fights up. He unraveled two bouts with WBO world middleweight champion Demetrius “Boo Boo” Andrade (29-0, 18 KO’s). The second of which was due to a PED infraction.
Most recently he dissolved a potential prizefight with WBA super world middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (53-1-2, 36 KO’s). In that instance, he claimed he did not have enough time to properly train. Although, he was well aware that Canelo would want to fight on the Mexican Independence Day weekend. With Murray, he pulled out both times citing injury as the culprit.
LEAVING THE PAST IN THE PAST
The upcoming bout against Murray, which will air live on DAZN, will be Saunders’ first fight in over a year.
“I am very happy to be defending my WBO title again, I haven’t boxed for a year and I really do miss being in the ring. I can’t wait to have my 30th professional fight and finish the year with a bang before a big 2021.
The coronavirus pandemic has affected everybody in many ways, and it has had a big impact on the sport of boxing. The Canelo Alvarez fight falling through was very frustrating for me but now the journey continues in December.
Martin and I were supposed to fight twice before but it didn’t happen either time. He said some stuff and so did I, so let’s see who can back it up.”
LET’S JUST GET IT ON!
Despite their previous fight mishaps, Murray insists that he does not hold a personal grudge against Saunders. Instead, he just wants to finally get in the ring with him to get a shot at his hardware.
“I’m really looking forward to getting back in there and fighting for another world title. The big fights definitely bring out the best in me.”
“…there was no bad blood really between me and Billy to be honest, it was just a lot of frustration after he pulled out twice. That got left where it was, but we’ve definitely got some unfinished business. I’m expecting a hard fight and Billy Joe to be at his best, so I’ll be ready.”
Let us just cross our fingers and hope that it actually takes place this time. As they say ‘three times a charm’!
By: Bakari Simpson
