Martin Murray: record, next fight and profile →
Further to yesterday’s announcements over social media, an injury has unfortunately again forced Billy Joe Saunders to withdraw from his WBO Middleweight World Title defence against Martin Murray scheduled for June 23 at The O2 in London.
Billy Joe Saunders has apologised to Martin Murray after pulling out of a fight with him for the second time. The Hatfield ace had been set to make a defence of his WBO world middleweight title against the St Helens man on June 23. Saunders, however, suffered what is being described as a hamstring injury and has been forced to withdraw from the fight which was meant to happen at London’s O2 Arena and be screened exclusively live on BoxNation and BT Sport.
Promoter Frank Warren confirmed through his Twitter account Sunday that the Billy Joe Saunders-Martin Murray fight has been postponed again. England’s Saunders (26-0, 12 KOs) was supposed to defend his WBO middleweight title against Murray (36-4-1, 17 KOs) on June 23 at O2 Arena in London, but according to Warren, the champion has suffered another injury.
Jamie Moore, who trains Martin Murray, believes too many people are overlooking his fighter's abilities. Murray will challenge WBO middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders on June 23rd at the O2 Arena in London.
A middleweight title will be at stake on Saturday, June 23, live and exclusively in the United States on ESPN+ — the recently-launched multi-sport, direct-to-consumer subscription streaming service from The Walt Disney Company's Direct-to-Consumer and International segment, in partnership with ESPN.
Billy Joe Saunders believes he is a “level above” Martin Murray but says their world title fight will show how he compares to knockout king Gennady Golovkin. WBO middleweight champion Saunders, who is keen for a title unification fight with Golovkin, will face his fellow Briton in London on June 23.
Martin Murray has taken a swipe at Frank Warren ahead of his fight with Billy Joe Saunders. The St Helens middleweight will challenge the Hatfield ace for the WBO belt in just over two months’ time. Murray, with a victory, will hold the only belt that is not in the custody of Gennady Golovkin, the Kazakh WBC, WBA Super, IBO and IBF champion. But he is concerned that the promoter of the show –– on June 23 at the O2 Arena in London –– is dismissing his chances of winning the fight.
Promoter Frank Warren has confirmed that talks are in progress for WBO Middleweight World Champion Billy Joe Saunders to face WBA, WBC, IBO and IBF Champion Gennady Golovkin in the autumn, should he come through his fight with Martin Murray at London’s 02 Arena on June 23rd. Golovkin was due to fight Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez on May 5th in Las Vegas, but the Mexican withdrew from the rematch on Tuesday, causing widespread rumours that Saunders would step in as a late replacement.
Billy Joe Saunders has insisted that despite his eagerness to unify with Gennady Golovkin, he will not be treated as a back-up plan. On May 5th, Canelo Alvarez and Golovkin are scheduled to face each other in a rematch of their first meeting that ended in a controversial draw. Canelo recently tested positive for the banned drug clenbuterol in drug tests conducted by the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association (VADA).
THE DECISION TO postpone a major show is always made with a heavy heart – and a considerably lighter wallet – but the wellbeing of our fighters will always come first for me. A hand injury suffered by Billy Joe Saunders has forced us to push back our 02 Arena show – originally scheduled for April 14 – to a new date of June 23.