After some initial reports broke yesterday that Billy Joe Saunders would not appear on the upcoming Canelo Alvarez vs Liam Smith show in Texas, it now looks to be definite the Englishman is off the show entirely.
WBO middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders (23-0-12KO) last fought in December of last year when he won the title by defeating Irishman Andy Lee via a majority points decision in Manchester.
Since then, he has gone through a frustrating period of inactivity that looked set to come to an end next month in the US.
By all accounts, Billy will still fight someone next month to defend his belt, but it just won’t be the co-main event to Canelo vs Smith:
Per @GoldenBoyBoxing, Saunders wont be on the #CaneloSmith PPV because he turned down a fight with Gabe Rosado. #boxing
— Dan Rafael (@danrafaelespn) August 11, 2016
It has been touted that Billy is set to face the winner of Canelo-Smith this coming December with talks reported to be underway for the fight at the moment with Canelo’s team, should Canelo beat Liam Smith of course.
Philadephia’s Gabriel Rosado (23-9-13KO) was the man that was offered to Saunders to fight in Texas next month. But it did not appear to represent any value to the WBO champion.
Rosado for his part has expressed his thoughts candidly on the matter via his Twitter account:
Excuses in y he turned down the fight r pathetic. #CowboyStadium HBO payperview, it gets no bigger then that #Cowardhttps://t.co/5NZrNAbtl5
— Gabriel Rosado (@KingGabRosado) August 11, 2016
It will be interesting to see where and who Saunders will now face next month as if he is getting ready for a potential fight with Canelo in December, he will surely need at least one warm up fight to shake off ring rust before the bout.
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