Khurtsidze taking step-aside? BJS fighting someone else

I'm guessing Murata, but still could be Golovkin seeing how badly he wants that last title. I wonder when the WBO will announce who Khurtsidze fights for the interim title, if they wait a month, then it could be the winner of Lemieux/Stevens, which would make for a hell of a fight. BJS schools Murata. BY MITCH ABRAMSON Middleweight contender Avtandil Khurtsidze, the mandatory to face titleholder Billy Joe Saunders, is expected to take step-aside money to allow Saunders to pursue “a major fight next,” a source told RingTV.com on Tuesday. As a result, Khurtsidze would fight for an interim belt, the source said. “There’s a step-aside deal pending for Khurtsidze,” the source told RING. “He would be able to fight for an interim WBO title, allowing Billy Joe Saunders to fight a major fight next.” The source declined to provide any more details but it’s no secret that Saunders and his promoter Frank Warren have expressed interest in fighting Japan’s Ryota Murata (12-0, 9 knockouts). Then there are the usual suspects, such as Saunders possibly waiting to face Canelo Alvarez after he meets Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. on May 6 or even the winner of Gennady Golovkin’s middleweight championship with Danny Jacobs set for March 18 at Madison Square Garden. Saunders has hinted he’s close to a deal for a big fight that would involve him traveling to his opponent’s home country, suggesting he may be talking about Golovkin in his native Kazakhstan, though at this point it’s just speculation. As for who Khurtsidze would face next, Murata is the WBO’s No. 2-rated middleweight while Tommy Langford is No. 3. The WBO ordered for Khurtsidze (32-2-2, 21 KOs) and Saunders (24-0, 12 KOs) to start negotiations on Jan. 26 for a title fight and said if a deal couldn’t be struck a purse bid would be ordered. A purse bid was scheduled to take place on Friday but was postponed. Khurtsidze, 37, has been the WBO’s No. 1 contender for nearly a year since he stopped Antoine Douglas in the 10th round last March. http://www.ringtv.com/483777-khurtsidze-expected-take-step-aside-money-saunders/#.WJpT6r-xgRY.twitter

Comments (12)

Billy Hoe Saunders is killing boxing singlehandedly

9y ago

Donnie_Herrera

Yeah because fighting that Jap that literally no one has ever heard of is a 'massive fight' :lol1: Blowjob Saunders continues to be the biggest joke in boxing :lol1: at "Blowjob Saunders"...nooice!!! http://img.pandawhale.com/112035-noice-gif-imgur-key-and-peele-ixu6.gif

9y ago

World_Champion

Hahah... Aye, that is true for Saunders. I was talking about Khurtsidze, doe. In response to another poster saying it was a bad move for Khurtsidze to take the step-aside money, and how if he beat BJS, he'd have lucrative fights against Eubank Jr., and Murata. I think it's a brilliant move, because really, how big is a fight for Khurtsidze against Eubank Jr.? If that fight were to go to purse bids, it's in the mid to upper six-figures, tops... I guess the value of the WBO belt right now is that both Canelo and GGG want it and would be willing to offer a large sum to secure the belt. For GGG this would give him all of the belts and basically force a Canelo fight. For Canelo it would offer him a chance to claim a legitimate belt and have more negotiating power for a potential GGG fight. The other fighters at middleweight know this also and therefore if fighters like Murata or Eubank jr want to fight for the belt, they'd have to offer quite large amounts also, unless they are the mandatory. It depends on how much the step-aside fee is and also how much Khurtsidze rates his chances of beating Saunders, which as I said earlier, he'll never have a better chance to get a title, let alone one so valuable, as he is not getting any younger. Even if he takes the money, he'll still have to beat a highly ranked fighter for the interim belt, then may face more delays as the WBO puts Canelo as mandatory as they did in January or sanctions a unification bout. If he could only beat Saunders, he'd be in a very strong position to demand a very high payday from 2 of the biggest names in the sport right now. Maybe he just wants to take the guaranteed money but he is leaving a lot on the table by walking away from this opportunity and it will not be as easy as you think for him to get a title shot.

9y ago

mlac

Also, how lucrative of a fight would Khurtsidze vs Murata or Embank Jr. really be? He would definitely not get anywhere near as much as they would get in their home countries... Even as a titleholder. If he were to lose against Saunders, though, that would be a HUGE hit to his career. It'd take him years of fighting murderers row to get back into mandatory position. SO he sees this as a chance for a free payday, and to sit back, and watch things unfold while he waits for his shot at the end of the year, or this time next year. Ideally, GGG beats Saunders, and then he gets to fight GGG for ALL THE MARBLES... A eubank Jnr rematch will be one of the biggest paydays blowjob get's Bar being Knocked out cold by golovkin that is...

9y ago

mlac

Yeah because fighting that Jap that literally no one has ever heard of is a 'massive fight' :lol1: Blowjob Saunders continues to be the biggest joke in boxing

9y ago

World_Champion

It's a brilliant move... The step=aside is likely low six-figures... maybe mid six-figures depending on how much the big money fight Saunders has is worth. If he were to go to a purse bid against Saunders, as the challenger, he's only entitled to 25%! That purse bid would be only worth mid to maybe upper six-figures. SO basically he'd get the same amount fighting for the title, as he gets for DOING NOTHING! He also gets to keep his place, and gets a shot for the interim title, another fight where he can make low six-figures. So in the next 5 months he can make half a million dollars by fighting just once. He wins the interim, he just stays where he was, and awaits to become the mandatory for likely a bigger money fight like GGG, or Canelo. Or, he could just become the full champion by default. I don't think anyone has listed a figure but $500,000 is very hard to believe given that Golovkin was paid this amount as step aside money for the Canelo-Cotto fight to be made. If he were to beat Saunders he would then be able to face Canelo, Murata or Eubank jr for a very good payday. Unless he thinks his chances of beating Saunders are not good or the amount paid to step aside is as high as you say, then I think this is a strange move. I find it hard to believe that he wouldn't fancy his chances of beating Saunders after Saunders' last performance.

9y ago

Sadiqkingofko

Murata stops Saunders late

9y ago

artfuL_

Moves like this anger me about the sport. Instead of getting the fights we want to see now they are pushed forward with the chance of not even happening.

9y ago

World_Champion

Yeah, unless it's like life changing money it's a horrible idea. Who is Khurtsidze's manager? Dude is coming off an exciting upset win that got people interested in him and instead of capitalizing on it, or even just keeping him busy, he goes without fighting for a year. Terrible job running his career. His promoter is Lou Dibella and his advisor is Keith Connolly. In the article below, Connolly claimed that they were prepared to go to purse bids. http://www.ri ngtv.com/482439-wbo-directs-saunders-khurtsidze-negotiate-purse-bid-ordered/ I can understand why Khurtsidze hasn't been active, he has had the #1 spot for almost a year and has waited for the WBO to order the mandatory. I don't think that it was worth the risk for him to fight tune up fights and lose his mandatory spot, especially when his training partners include Khytrov, Derevyanchenko and Jacobs, having said that I don't think he would have waited as long if he knew that it would take so long to get a title fight.

9y ago

Rich2123

I can't imagine him being offered an amount that would make stepping aside a good idea so I can only call this a strange move if it's true. Yeah, unless it's like life changing money it's a horrible idea. Who is Khurtsidze's manager? Dude is coming off an exciting upset win that got people interested in him and instead of capitalizing on it, or even just keeping him busy, he goes without fighting for a year. Terrible job running his career.

9y ago

World_Champion

I can't understand why Khurtsidze would take step aside money in this situation when it would seem that a win against Saunders would bring about a fight with Canelo, who was installed above Khurtsidze as the WBO mandatory before he signed to fight Chavez jr. What also doesn't make sense is that even if Khurtsidze manages to win an interim title fight, it's pretty likely that the WBO will just give the next shot to Canelo, or possibly sanction a unification bout, leaving him waiting once again. At 37, with Billy Joe coming off a terrible performance in his last fight, it is hard to imagine him getting a better opportunity to win a world title than this in his life. I can't imagine him being offered an amount that would make stepping aside a good idea so I can only call this a strange move if it's true.

9y ago

j0zef

What? The sh1tty WBO has interim belts now too? What's next, IBO interim?

9y ago