Callum Smith turns down offer to fight Billy Joe Saunders
3KingsBoxing has learned that after consultation with his team, WBA and Ring Magazine super middleweight champion Callum Smith has turned down an offer to engage in a super middleweight unification fight with WBO super middleweight Billy Joe Saunders.
Frank Warren (promoter of Billy Joe Saunders) sent Smith an offer sheet proposing a Smith – Saunders fight in September. Both fighters would receive a 50/50 split of the purse. The bout was to air on BT Sports Box Office. Ultimately, Smith would turn down the offer. The reason, according to Smith’s trainer, Joe Gallagher, being simply that not enough money was offered.
During an interview with Sky Sports, Gallagher provided more details on the matter.
“It’s not the offer that’d tempt Callum Smith, as the world number one, to defend his titles against Billy Joe Saunders on another network/platform. So that’s it. “
“Me and Callum have already agreed that it’s not enough, the money’s not enough. If they’re genuine and deadly serious that they want to entice the number one in the world at 168lbs in a unification with Billy Joe Saunders, then you have to pay the right money for that quality of fighter.”
In response, both Frank Warren and Billy Joe Saunders took to Twitter to give their reaction to not only Smith rejecting the fight, but to Gallagher’s interview with Sky Sports.
So for now, a WBA/WBO 168lbs unification bout between Smith and Saunders is a no-go. Instead, look for both fighters to next return to action in the Fall, with each fighter likely making mandatory defenses of their respective titles.
By: Michael Wilson Jr.
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