By Keith Idec

Avtandil Khurtsidze’s handlers want the WBO and Billy Joe Saunders to honor his mandatory title defense.

Khurtsidze has been the No. 1 contender for Saunders’ WBO middleweight title for most of 2016, yet still hasn’t received his title shot. When it came time for Saunders to finally return to the ring earlier this month, he instead made an optional defense against Artur Akavov (16-2, 7 KOs), the 10th-ranked contender who lost a unanimous decision to England’s Saunders (24-0, 12 KOs) on December 3 in Paisley, Scotland.

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The undefeated Saunders hopes to land a high-profile fight against IBF/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin (36-0, 33 KOs) or former WBC middleweight title-holder Canelo Alvarez (48-1-1, 34 KOs) sometime in 2017. He admitted after struggling against Russia’s Akavov, however, that he needs another fight or two to sharpen his skills before he could accept one of those very difficult fights.

Keith Connolly, Khurtsidze’s adviser, expects that first fight to come against Khurtsidze (32-2-2, 21 KOs).

“We’re the No. 1-ranked contender,” Connolly said. “Saunders says that he wants to fight one or two fights before a big fight. We’re the No. 1-ranked opponent. We’ve earned the shot and we want the WBO to mandate the fight. It’s their responsibility to do that and they should step up to the plate. Khurtsidze has been No. 1 most of the year and we haven’t gotten any movement from them as far as mandating Saunders to defend his title against Khurtsidze.”

The Brooklyn-based fighter from Georgia (the country) hasn’t fought since he stopped then-undefeated Antoine Douglas (19-1-1, 13 KOs) in the 10th round March 5 because Khurtsidze has been waiting on his 160-pound title shot.

“We expect the WBO to do the right thing and mandate the fight,” Connolly said. “We think Khurtsidze has earned that right. Let’s see if Billy Joe Saunders really does have the balls to fight Khurtsidze, or if he’s just gonna take another soft touch.”

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.