By Elliot Foster, Shaun Brown
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.
Murray took to social media on Sunday to express his displeasure at the news of the cancellation of the fight –– his fifth shot at world honours –– for the second time this year.
And that was quickly followed by comment from the 28-year-old champion (26-0, 12 KOs).
“[I] apologise for any inconvenience, [but] due to injury I had to withdraw from [my fight on] June 23,” Saunders wrote on social media. “You [have] your ups in boxing, but [the] last three months been downs.
“Sorry to Martin and the fans. [I will] be back soon.”
The promoter of the show, Frank Warren, then took to a similar platform to say that a full statement regarding the full card on June 23 at the O2 Arena will be made on Monday.
As reported earlier. Murray is skeptical of the news.
"We know that he's just trying to make a big money fight with Golovkin or Canelo, and I'm too risky to fight, he just don't wanna fight me. There's nothing I can do. It's the second time I've took myself away from my family and got my body in this condition ready to fight, to get told last minute it's cancelled. Obviously gutted. Nothing I can do. Just want to apologise to everybody who's bought tickets, booked hotels, booked train fares. And to say thank you to everybody for their continued support and believing in me. My management team is working on an alternative so hopefully I'll have a new date in the next couple of weeks. Thanks to everyone for their continued support."
Further details will be revealed in due course.
