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.
Great! They finally sign a big fight 30 minutes from my house and they just had to put freaking Billy Joe Saunders in the main event. What are the odds that this fight gets postponed or cancelled by BJS? 70-90% chance? Super. What a waste. I'm sure that it will get cancelled in early October and they'll replace BJS with someone like Martirosyian. Just my luck.
caldo2025 wrote: ↑09 Aug 2018, 05:51
Great! They finally sign a big fight 30 minutes from my house and they just had to put freaking Billy Joe Saunders in the main event. What are the odds that this fight gets postponed or cancelled by BJS? 70-90% chance? Super. What a waste. I'm sure that it will get cancelled in early October and they'll replace BJS with someone like Martirosyian. Just my luck.
Don't cancel Billy Joe!
im not sure bjs is the only guy or even the main guy you need to worry about here when it comes to cancelations and not getting in the ring
caldo2025 wrote: ↑09 Aug 2018, 05:51
Great! They finally sign a big fight 30 minutes from my house and they just had to put freaking Billy Joe Saunders in the main event. What are the odds that this fight gets postponed or cancelled by BJS? 70-90% chance? Super. What a waste. I'm sure that it will get cancelled in early October and they'll replace BJS with someone like Martirosyian. Just my luck.
Don't cancel Billy Joe!
im not sure bjs is the only guy or even the main guy you need to worry about here when it comes to cancelations and not getting in the ring
Is that a joke? BJS has had 6 postponements or fight cancellations in his last 5 or 6 fights. How anyone signs a contract and get tied up with his BS is beyond me. BJS is a super fighter but his reliability is pathetic. Even his diehard fans are sick of him doing this crap.
caldo2025 wrote: ↑09 Aug 2018, 05:51
Great! They finally sign a big fight 30 minutes from my house and they just had to put freaking Billy Joe Saunders in the main event. What are the odds that this fight gets postponed or cancelled by BJS? 70-90% chance? Super. What a waste. I'm sure that it will get cancelled in early October and they'll replace BJS with someone like Martirosyian. Just my luck.
Don't cancel Billy Joe!
im not sure bjs is the only guy or even the main guy you need to worry about here when it comes to cancelations and not getting in the ring
Is that a joke? BJS has had 6 postponements or fight cancellations in his last 5 or 6 fights. How anyone signs a contract and get tied up with his BS is beyond me. BJS is a super fighter but his reliability is pathetic. Even his diehard fans are sick of him doing this crap.
im serious bruh
andrades been a pro longer then saunders yet has less fights
pulled out of his big fight with charlo, had his last fight fall through too
hasnt been any more active of late then saunders has
im not sure bjs is the only guy or even the main guy you need to worry about here when it comes to cancelations and not getting in the ring
Is that a joke? BJS has had 6 postponements or fight cancellations in his last 5 or 6 fights. How anyone signs a contract and get tied up with his BS is beyond me. BJS is a super fighter but his reliability is pathetic. Even his diehard fans are sick of him doing this crap.
im serious bruh
andrades been a pro longer then saunders yet has less fights
pulled out of his big fight with charlo, had his last fight fall through too
hasnt been any more active of late then saunders has
LOL. Oh i get what you're trying to say now. Yes, they are both the opposite of reliable but still I'm taking BJS as the one that cancels or postpones first. You can take Andrade, who was already complaining about needing more fights before taking on BJS. Maybe you're on to something here.
I honestly don't know who wins. On past performances it's hard to pick against BJS, but a part of me feels we haven't seen what Andrade is really made of or seen him at his full potential. I could see Andrade coming into the fight a bit more focused, a bit more hungry and showing he's the elite fighter that most thought he was before he chose to take the weird career path we've all come to know the past few years.
It's a interesting fight and I really hope it happens
It's also odd to me that a few years back BJS was considered overrated and Andrade was talked about as this up and coming elite fighter. Now BJS seems to be a heavy favorite coming off a one sided victory over the very one dimensional Leimieux. BJS barely beat a very green and Eubank Jr. and hadn't looked real impressive prior to the Leimieux fight.
I understand why people would lean towards BJS, but I think people are selling Andrade a bit short.
NateJR wrote: ↑16 Aug 2018, 15:18
It's also odd to me that a few years back BJS was considered overrated...
Billy Joe Saunders was in fact very underrated.
Many people from this forum considered him the underdog against the likes of Eubank Jr, Lee, Khurtsidze, Monroe Jr and Lemieux.
I was one of the few people that predicted a very easy one-sided victory for the Brit over Lemieux.
As recently as two years ago, many people would expect GGG to be capable of disposing of Saunders within a couple of rounds, but I'm pretty sure that the very same set of folks don't think like this anymore.
Daniyar Yeleussinov is expected to return to the ring next month.
The Kazakh Olympic gold medallist was last in action in August.
Yeleussinov is currently 3-0 with one early finish and Boxing Scene understands that he will be back between the ropes on October 20.
It is expected to be revealed by Eddie Hearn and Matchroom Boxing that the 27-year-old John David Jackson-trained fighter will be added to the card topped by Billy Joe Saunders' WBO middleweight world title defence against mandatory challenger Demetrius Andrade.
