Enlightened-One wrote: ↑26 Jul 2018, 12:24
Andrade clearly didn't fancy this fight a few months ago and I supplied a video of him to this forum saying he's not ready to face the Brit yet.
Meanwhile, Fɍȁnk Wȁɍɍȅn is allowing Saunders to travel to America and appear on a Matchroom fight card, due to his belief that Billy Joe and himself really fancy the job. Hearn and Wȁɍɍȅn rarely do business together, so I cannot doubt the sincerity behind his words.
Andrade’s amateur pedigree cannot be questioned, but his lack of activity and relatively poor calibre of opposition in the pro ranks does make me wonder whether he’s not quite as good as advertised by the hype train, because he has also previously rejected opportunities to engage in marquee bouts in the past… And that’s solely on him, rather than being “ducked”.
Saunders isn't necessarily the poster boy for activity and I'll only believe this fight is happening once Saunders lands in the US.
Andrade away from the ring has made huge errors particularly the Roc Nation fiasco.
Its a tough fight, BUT Billy needs to do it or gets stripped of the title & any chance he's got of a big money super fight with winner of GGG/ Alvarez. Without the belt he's in the "who needs ya" camp & back to main eventing in sports halls.
black panther wrote: ↑26 Jul 2018, 02:41
Tough fight for BJS
Kudos for taking it. 50/50 in my eyes
. Interestingly Top rank were at the purse bids so that may have caused Matchroom to offer a little more.
I was just thinking about this and just wonder if Frank played Eddie here, we all know Frank cant outbid Eddie and Frank and Bob are great friends, so I wonder if Frank asked Bob to send someone there to as you allude to make Eddie feel threatened... Would be a great way to squeeze every last drop.
To paraphrase some of the key points that Demetrius Andrade articulated in this video published as recently as six months ago:
• “Before the Lemieux fight, Billy Joe was willing to get into the ring with me and I told him to handle what he’s got to handle… and Lemieux is easy if you’re six feet and you know how to box, know how to move, it’s a walk in the park.”
• “I know that Billy Joe Saunders would fight me. I think he’s a confident guy that’s willing to get into the ring and put whatever he got on the line…”
• “[Would I like to fight Saunders next?]… No! I’d like to fight one more fighter at 160lbs and then fight him…”
• “Saunders has some good boxing ability and some good footwork. Saunders is a big dude. So what I’m saying is for me to be able to beat down a big dude, I think I need to put on a little more weight the proper way.”
Billy Joe Saunders will defend his WBO middleweight title in his opponent’s home area in a second straight fight.
Promoter Eddie Hearn told multiple media outlets Wednesday that Saunders’ title defense against Demetrius Andrade will take place October 20 at TD Garden in Boston. TD Garden, the home arena of the NBA’s Celtics and NHL’s Bruins, is about 50 miles from Andrade’s hometown of Providence, Rhode Island.
The Saunders-Andrade fight will headline a show streamed live by DAZN as part of Perform Group’s partnership with Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing. The first DAZN/Matchroom show in the United States, scheduled for October 6 at Wintrust Arena in Chicago, was officially announced at a press conference Wednesday.
Hearn, Andrade’s new promoter, and British rival Fɍȁnk Wȁɍɍȅn, who works with Saunders, came to an agreement for their WBO-mandated championship match July 25 before a purse bid scheduled for later that day.
The WBO ordered a Saunders-Andrade title fight last month because Brooklyn’s Daniel Jacobs (34-2, 29 KOs), the WBO’s No. 1 middleweight challenger, reached an agreement to fight Ukraine’s Sergiy Derevyanchenko (12-0, 10 KOs) for the vacant IBF middleweight title. Andrade (25-0, 16 KOs), a former WBA and WBO 154-pound champion, is the WBO’s No. 2-ranked middleweight contender.
The 30-year-old Andrade (25-0, 16 KOs) will end almost exactly a one-year layoff the night he challenges Saunders. Andrade hasn’t fought since defeating Alantez Fox (23-1-1, 11 KOs) by unanimous decision in their 12-rounder October 21 in Verona, New York.
The 28-year-old Saunders (26-0, 12 KOs) will fight for the first time in 10 months when he enters the ring to face Andrade.
Naandrew wrote: ↑10 Aug 2018, 10:36
Saunders isn't far off becoming the most unreliable man in British boxing.
I'd wait until he flys over before getting excited about this. I hope it happens though as we need middleweight contenders to fight each other.
Not fought in 8 months. I thought he'd turned a corner under Dom Ingle and would kick on after a career best performance against Lemuiex. Maybe he is actually injured but I'm sceptical.
Naandrew wrote: ↑10 Aug 2018, 10:36
Saunders isn't far off becoming the most unreliable man in British boxing.
I'd wait until he flys over before getting excited about this. I hope it happens though as we need middleweight contenders to fight each other.
Not fought in 8 months. I thought he'd turned a corner under Dom Ingle and would kick on after a career best performance against Lemuiex. Maybe he is actually injured but I'm sceptical.
Apparently W@rren is expected to be at the press conference next week. That should be good.
