BoxRec

Six weeks to go, for the British & commonwealth championships. Opponent is still TBA.

Ruling out Murray, Barker and Macklin for obvious reasons, I've been looking further down the domestic rankings. Saunders has already beaten Blackwell and Ryder. Eubank Jnr won't take it as he is following his own career path, as is Etches. That leaves Eamon O'Kane, Prince Aaron, Kerry Hope and Danny Butler.

Anyone got any idea who it may be ? Billy Joe is now 4th by the WBO and a busy year for him could see him move into the mandatory position.

JimJim2009 wrote:Six weeks to go, for the British & commonwealth championships. Opponent is still TBA.

Ruling out Murray, Barker and Macklin for obvious reasons, I've been looking further down the domestic rankings. Saunders has already beaten Blackwell and Ryder. Eubank Jnr won't take it as he is following his own career path, as is Etches. That leaves Eamon O'Kane, Prince Aaron, Kerry Hope and Danny Butler.

Anyone got any idea who it may be ? Billy Joe is now 4th by the WBO and a busy year for him could see him move into the mandatory position.

Hope's with Hearn, so that's unlikely although he doesn't seem set on using him in any useful way, his next fight is a 6 rounder 4 months after winning an IBF strap that gave him a top 15 ranking. Prince Arron would be my personal preference, O'Kane is similar style wise to Blackwell, Hall and O'Sullivan and was stopped by Ryder who has a similar style, but he's a southpaw. Arron is very tall and would be a good experience for Saunders as he moves upwards and would allow him to take the Lonsdale belt outright.

I'd hope Hearn would not stop Hope from a major opportunity like that though. Arron was poor last time out...

JimJim2009 wrote:I'd hope Hearn would not stop Hope from a major opportunity like that though. Arron was poor last time out...

He was poor, but it was a European title fight and Hope's coming off a defeat too. I just think that he's already fought a southpaw in Ryder, come forward fighters like Hall, O'Sullivan and Blackwell, so Prince Arron would provide a different challenge that would be good for his development since there aren't many 6'3" middleweights about.

Saunders does have some good world rankings, so there are opportunities out there for eliminators and international fights, but I think one more at domestic level would do him good.

His rankings are excellent though:
IBF - 11
WBA - 15
WBO - 4
WBC - 11

Personally I think the IBF and WBC are the best routes right now, Martinez will retire sooner or later leaving the title vacant and Sturm is unlikely to go anywhere near Golovkin.

I never seen the Prince Aaron/Max Bursak fight but i was under the impression that some people had Aaron nicking it???

Eammon O,Kane would be a decent test

Hope's with Hearn, so that's unlikely although he doesn't seem set on using him in any useful way, his next fight is a 6 rounder 4 months after winning an IBF strap that gave him a top 15 ranking. Prince Arron would be my personal preference, O'Kane is similar style wise to Blackwell, Hall and O'Sullivan and was stopped by Ryder who has a similar style, but he's a southpaw. Arron is very tall and would be a good experience for Saunders as he moves upwards and would allow him to take the Lonsdale belt outright.[/quote]

Hope lost his last fight, for said IBF strap. O'Kane beat him.

handsofstone wrote:I never seen the Prince Aaron/Max Bursak fight but i was under the impression that some people had Aaron nicking it???

Eammon O,Kane would be a decent test

Think Arron was down 2 or 3 times and the scorecards were pretty wide, Blackwell was the close one, although I haven't seen it, might be that one you're thinking of.

magnus wrote:Hope's with Hearn, so that's unlikely although he doesn't seem set on using him in any useful way, his next fight is a 6 rounder 4 months after winning an IBF strap that gave him a top 15 ranking. Prince Arron would be my personal preference, O'Kane is similar style wise to Blackwell, Hall and O'Sullivan and was stopped by Ryder who has a similar style, but he's a southpaw. Arron is very tall and would be a good experience for Saunders as he moves upwards and would allow him to take the Lonsdale belt outright.

Hope lost his last fight, for said IBF strap. O'Kane beat him.[/quote]
Oops, actually mentioned that Hope lost his last fight further down as well

expe wrote:

handsofstone wrote:I never seen the Prince Aaron/Max Bursak fight but i was under the impression that some people had Aaron nicking it???

Eammon O,Kane would be a decent test

Think Arron was down 2 or 3 times and the scorecards were pretty wide, Blackwell was the close one, although I haven't seen it, might be that one you're thinking of.

haha your right expe, Bursak beat Aaron comfortably i watched that too ,Nick Blackwell seemingly performed well ay

On another forum, they were suggesting that BJS would be fighting someone like Mora or Manfredo Jnr, as apparently he mentioned on Twitter something about an opponent who had been in one of the Fight Night games. Could be bollocks mind...

handsofstone wrote:

expe wrote:

handsofstone wrote:I never seen the Prince Aaron/Max Bursak fight but i was under the impression that some people had Aaron nicking it???

Eammon O,Kane would be a decent test

Think Arron was down 2 or 3 times and the scorecards were pretty wide, Blackwell was the close one, although I haven't seen it, might be that one you're thinking of.

haha your right expe, Bursak beat Aaron comfortably i watched that too ,Nick Blackwell seemingly performed well ay

Wouldn't mind seeing BJS in with Bursak, it's probably too late for next month now, but hopefully they have the forethought to set the ball rolling for that one later on in the year now, rather than trying to rush it, announcing it only for Bursak to pull out or something.

magnus wrote:On another forum, they were suggesting that BJS would be fighting someone like Mora or Manfredo Jnr, as apparently he mentioned on Twitter something about an opponent who had been in one of the Fight Night games. Could be bollocks mind...

Mora would be interesting. Wouldnt mind seeing that. I saw his fight against Proksa and he seems quite comfortable boxing southpaws aswell.

I was gonna say Craig McEwan but am i right in saying that he lost an 8 rounder in the US or something along those lines :??

handsofstone wrote:I was gonna say Craig McEwan but am i right in saying that he lost an 8 rounder in the US or something along those lines :??

Yes, he lost to this guy:

http://boxrec.com/list_bouts.php?human_ ... &cat=boxer

magnus wrote:

handsofstone wrote:I was gonna say Craig McEwan but am i right in saying that he lost an 8 rounder in the US or something along those lines :??

Yes, he lost to this guy:

http://boxrec.com/list_bouts.php?human_ ... &cat=boxer

the mans fought a few decent names but thats a bad loss for McEwan

Terrible. He's gone from fringe world level (Lee fight) to struggling to get into the British top ten.

I know people wont like this but ive never rated McEwan. He's always looked distinctly average to me. He looked good against Lee but im not sure if that says more about Lee than anything.

magnus wrote:Terrible. He's gone from fringe world level (Lee fight) to struggling to get into the British top ten.

TBH i dont think theres much in Britain for Saunders now,i know he wants the Lonsdale for keeps

Murray,Macklin,Barker and Lee arent obviously arent gonna happen if he cant get Eubank Jr or O,Kane in the ring id prefer to seek someone from further afield regardless of the Lonsdale situation

I agree Mora would be a great test,or Bursak for the European although thats never gonna happen with the timeframe or even Proksa

columbo wrote:I know people wont like this but ive never rated McEwan. He's always looked distinctly average to me. He looked good against Lee but im not sure if that says more about Lee than anything.

I agree,i think i believed the hype coz he was Wildcard,Scottish etc but i was still waiting on convincing but looks like he,s missed the boat

Mora would be an excellent test - but think he can be hard to look good against. Manfredo (or similar) would be made to measure for him, and would raise his profile nicely in the US.

Whoever it is i think we can all agree that it has to be confirmed soon,its an accident waiting to happen

I can see it now,one of FWs fighters getting the hump coz he,s been beating by some late opponent,replacement or otherwise

handsofstone wrote:Whoever it is i think we can all agree that it has to be confirmed soon,its an accident waiting to happen

I can see it now,one of FWs fighters getting the hump coz he,s been beating by some late opponent,replacement or otherwise

I assume the reason the opponent hasn't been announced is because they haven't got one agreed. Yet the show was announced as Billy Joe Saunders defending his British & Commonwealth titles - and they must have realised the shortlist of potential candidates is quite literally a short list, when you remove the top 3 big boys, the ones Saunders has already beat, and those who will avoid Saunders.

I would love to see Saunders in against some international "name" opposition. He blew away Jarrod Fletcher in a round and I kind of presumed the Aussie was a bit of a soft touch, but it turns out Fletcher was a top amateur, beating DeGale and Adonis Stephenson. That's a cracking result for Saunders, if they could get him maybe a former world title challenger for next month, it would be a step in the right direction for him.

I am saying it will be some import from Africa for the commonwealth.

WelshJack wrote:I am saying it will be some import from Africa for the commonwealth.

I have just checked rankings i'm going with Kassim Ouma

It will be someone shite that's the bottom line. I dont think FW can deliver big fights anymore. Atleast it doesnt seem that way!