Saunders-Soro Purse Bid is Won By Frank Warren

By Per Ake Persson

Promoter Frank Warren easily grabbed the bidding win, as Queensberry Promotions were the sole participants today at the purse bids in Rome for EBU middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders´ mandatory defense of the title against French challenger Michel Soro (24-1-1). Queensberry bid 153,000 Euro and will announce date and site later.

Saunders is 21-0 and the mandatory challenger to the WBO's middleweight championship - currently held by Andy Lee, who captured the title last December with a knockout of previously undefeated Olympian Matt Korobov. Saunders' fight with Lee was being positioned for a March date in Ireland, but now those plans are up in the air as there are serious discussions of Lee facing former champion Peter Quillin on April 11.