by Shaun Brown
Promoter Frank Warren has told Boxing Scene that a fight between Billy Joe Saunders and Amir Khan is not happening.
There had been some speculation that Saunders, the WBO middleweight champion, could face his fellow Brit and former world super lightweight champion in the next defence of his title.
Khan has already ventured to middleweight, unsuccessfully, when feeling the force of Canelo Alvarez in May 2016. The fight that ended in a brutal knockout defeat for Khan was his most recent outing and has been out of action since due to injury.
Saunders took to Twitter today to express his interest in the Khan fight by saying: "I think Amir Khan is a good fighter and have total respect for him love the chance to have a punch up."
When 'Scene asked Warren if there was any substance to the speculation he said: "No. That [fight] won't happen."
Saunders is due to return to action on December 9 at the Copper Box in London, the scene of his most recent world title defence against American Willie Monroe Jr. which ended in a points win for the champion to take him to (25-0, 12 KOs).
As for Khan it looks like a return to welterweight is still on the cards with a November return pencilled in for the 30-year-old.
In Other News By Terence Dooley - Birmingham’s Sam Eggington (21-3, 13 KOs) has beaten the likes of Super-featherweight contender Zelfa Barrett and Former WBO heavyweight world title challenger Hughie Fury, who dropped a decision to Joseph Parker last Saturday, to win the Boxing Writers’ Club’s Young Boxer of the Year award for 2017. The Award is decided by a collection of British boxing writers and will be formally handed to the Birmingham-based boxer at a formal dinner on October 9.
Since losing to Bradley Skeete in March 2016, the 23-year-old has registered four wins on the bounce, picking up the vacant International welterweight and EBU titles en route as well as grabbing the scalps of Frankie Gavin (W TKO 8) Paulie Malignaggi (W KO 8) and Ceferino Rodriguez (W KO 10 for the European belt) to put the defeat to Skeete firmly in his rear-view mirror.
October could turn out to be quite a month for Eggington, he meets Mohamed Mimoune in his first EBU defence on the undercard of Anthony Crolla’s fight against Ricky Burns at the Manchester Arena on the 7th, just two days before he receives the coveted award. A win would cement his place in the ratings, he currently sits at 9 and 7 with the WBC and IBF respectively.