Demetrius Andrade vs. Billy Joe Saunders Ordered By WBO

[Ruthless-RKO]

Demetrius Andrade and Billy Joe Saunders are heading back to the negotiating table—only this times with the roles reversed.

A ruling handed down by the World Boxing Organization (WBO) on Tuesday proved to be a double-barrel victory for Saunders. Not only was his previously issued six-month suspension lifted, but the 30-year old Brit has been declared the mandatory challenger to his old middleweight title which now belongs to Andrade.

According to a statement released by the WBO Championship Committee, “Based on the evidence ratifying complete fulfillment of all imposed conditions on behalf of Mr. Saunders presented before this Committee and pursuant to Section 1 subsection (c) of the WBO Regulations of World Championship Contests, we hereby terminate immediately his suspension from any WBO sanctioned contest.

“[Consequently, we] recommend the WBO World Ratings Committee official reinstatement of Mr. Saunders within the WBO Middleweight Division Ratings and be positioned as the number one (1) contender accordingly. Further, if the WBO Ratings Committee adopts this Committees’ recommendation, we hereby designate Mr. Saunders as the official Mandatory Challenger of the aforementioned division pursuant to Section 1 subsection (b) (23) of the referenced regulations.”

“[O]n January 14th 2019, the WBO headquarter offices received an official petition on behalf of Mr. Saunders’ legal representative Mr. David House, ratifying and evidencing the fighter’s successful completion of all the imposed conditions set forth by this Committee,” read the WBO’s ruling. “The evidence showed that Mr. Saunders engaged in active charity and community work with underserved and disadvantaged kids, submitted to numerous random anti-doping tests by the correspondent (drug testing) agencies, obtaining thereto negative results, and presently, continuous in good standing conduct in his community.

“n light of Mr. Saunders’ thorough fulfillment of our ruling, his legal representative request reinstatement of said fighter in the WBO World Ratings Middleweight Division, consequently, be rated at the number one (1) position and designated as the Mandatory Challenger in the aforementioned division.”

With the ruling, also came an immediately ordered mandatory title defense versus Saunders to be made by Andrade. The WBO issued a letter to Eddie Hearn and allegedly, the respective promoters for Andrade and Saunders who will have 30 days from January 22 to negotiate terms for a title fight.

Should the two sides fail to reach an agreement, the bout will be subject to a purse bid hearing on February 21 at WBO headquarters in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Any registered promoter with the WBO will be eligible to secure the rights to the fight, providing the winning promoter submits a minimum allowed bid of $200,000.

[ThereByTheGrace]

Saunders will beat him and win it back

[3132DW]

Saunders will beat him and win it back

He’ll earn a fraction of the Original Purse this time though.

[Ruthless-RKO]

Saunders will beat him and win it back

He’ll earn a fraction of the Original Purse this time though.

He was meant to receive around $3m the first time.

Andrade kept his $700k purse against that Walter dude.

[oogiebe]

I really like Saunders in this fight. And pretty easily.

[leejonesjnr]

I really like Saunders in this fight. And pretty easily.

Yeah? I can’t think of any circumstances that would make me like him.
You’d have to expect him to win this but if Andrade prefers to let it go to bids BJS may withdraw anyway?

[BigDoofus]

I really like Saunders in this fight. And pretty easily.

Yeah? I can’t think of any circumstances that would make me like him.
You’d have to expect him to win this but if Andrade prefers to let it go to bids BJS may withdraw anyway?

Doubt it, pal. It's not like he has loads of other options.

[smiling assassin]

I really like Saunders in this fight. And pretty easily.

Yeah? I can’t think of any circumstances that would make me like him.
You’d have to expect him to win this but if Andrade prefers to let it go to bids BJS may withdraw anyway?

Why do you think he might withdraw if it goes to purse bids mate? Genuine question

[maverick23]

I think it’ll be interesting to see what purse split % the WBO sets for this. If it’s heavily weighted to Andrade (75/25 or 70/30) then I can’t see the fight being made. If it’s 50/50 then it could be an interesting one.

[Coco]

FW has done a great job to sort this out

[leejonesjnr]

I really like Saunders in this fight. And pretty easily.

Yeah? I can’t think of any circumstances that would make me like him.
You’d have to expect him to win this but if Andrade prefers to let it go to bids BJS may withdraw anyway?

Why do you think he might withdraw if it goes to purse bids mate? Genuine question

Presumably as the challenger he will get 25-30%, I imagine that wouldn’t be appealing.
He may well just suck it up with the intention of using the belt to get a GGG or Alvarez fight but that hasn’t worked out for him in the past.

[smiling assassin]

Yeah? I can’t think of any circumstances that would make me like him.
You’d have to expect him to win this but if Andrade prefers to let it go to bids BJS may withdraw anyway?

Why do you think he might withdraw if it goes to purse bids mate? Genuine question

Presumably as the challenger he will get 25-30%, I imagine that wouldn’t be appealing.
He may well just suck it up with the intention of using the belt to get a GGG or Alvarez fight but that hasn’t worked out for him in the past.

At the minute he's in the who needs him club as he will be hard night for any middleweight, and without a belt he holds no cards. A smaller percentage in this fight might set him up for a much bigger one next time. Your right that it didn't work out for him in the past but with Canelo and Golovkin going different routes it opens the door for Saunders

[jameswilson]

I think it’ll be interesting to see what purse split % the WBO sets for this. If it’s heavily weighted to Andrade (75/25 or 70/30) then I can’t see the fight being made. If it’s 50/50 then it could be an interesting one.

Are they bollocks gonna set it at 50/50.

[3132DW]

I think it’ll be interesting to see what purse split % the WBO sets for this. If it’s heavily weighted to Andrade (75/25 or 70/30) then I can’t see the fight being made. If it’s 50/50 then it could be an interesting one.

Fancy it might be closer to 60-40 - either way Saunders has to take the fight to get the belt back to get in the mix. Canelo/Jacobs and likely GGG all on Dazn - so he needs to do something or he’ll be on the outside looking in.

[Coco]

Saunders should take the fight for free if need be, otherwise he could end up being frozen out of the title picture in his prime.
A win will lead to some huge fights.
Bet Andrade is gutted that he has to fight BJS instead of for big money with GGG, Canelo or Jacobs

[leejonesjnr]

A win will lead to some huge fights.

COULD lead to some huge fights.
It didn't before and that was when the Middleweight belts were slowly being unified.
They are well and truly fractured again now so nobody 'big' has any real reason to jump at a fight with Saunders.

[tobyh5]

Saunders should take the fight for free if need be, otherwise he could end up being frozen out of the title picture in his prime.

That perfectly sums up the situation from the BJS side for me

[Nightmare Roy]

How do you get a ban for drugs and then become mandatory 6 months later?

[Nondescript]

I'm surprised how many of you are writing Andrade off in this fight. BJS is very good but he's fought very few fighters with the athleticism/speed alongside the size/length that Andrade possesses. The closest fighter to Andrade, that BJS has fought, has got to be Andy Lee, and we saw how close that fight was. A lot of people thought Lee deserved the nod in that aswell.

[NoScoutingReports]

How do you get a ban for drugs and then become mandatory 6 months later?

Not a clue.

[Nondescript]

How do you get a ban for drugs and then become mandatory 6 months later?

Not a clue.

I think it was overturned.

[knockout]

In theory the fight is still worth the same ( in fact maybe it is more attractive now with BJS as the stripped fighter coming back to get his old belt) .

So if it was worth 3.7m before ( going off the posts above) then I expect Worse case for BJS is he gets 700k and Andrade gets 3m.

There is the distinct possibility that a promoter makes an offer that both parties are happy with before purse bids are required! Dazn are desperate for fight nights and have deep pockets .

I don’t think either fighter makes better money elsewhere in the short term .

[coneye]

I'm surprised how many of you are writing Andrade off in this fight. BJS is very good but he's fought very few fighters with the athleticism/speed alongside the size/length that Andrade possesses. The closest fighter to Andrade, that BJS has fought, has got to be Andy Lee, and we saw how close that fight was. A lot of people thought Lee deserved the nod in that aswell.
[/quote

Correct ... Saunders has always ben fleshy , not in the best of condition, and never really looked that good , even with Eubank he was fading and lucky he built up such a good lead before he started to gas , Changes camp for a gym, thats well let say been accussed or suspected of goings on , Then its the only time he started to look in shape,and he got busted .

Ok fair enough technicly he can claim it was rubbish , becuse off silly rules about in or out of competition, , but regardless , for the first time he gets in shape , he tests positive ,, so you can only ask what shape is he gonna be in when he tests negative , he's not known for his profesionalism , , I don't think fighting the boring Andrade is a gimee

[DrDuke]

Maybe it's Saunders' last chance to reanimate his career. And he'll use it, I believe.

[PredatorHayds]

Saunders will get paid a lot less than he was due to get originally.

He’s got to leave his ego at the door and accept what’s on the table.

Without being a World Champion at Middle the only ‘money’ fights are domestically at Super-Middle were he gives up size.

I can imagine DAZN are desperate to get Andrade in with the Jacobs/Canelo winner. Then they would have the entire Middleweight division in house.

At the moment I hope Saunders pulls it off, but he will no doubt say or do something stupid that turns everyone against him or jeopardises the fight happening.

He’s basically a British Broner.