Saunders vs Khurtsidze. News? Thought?

[Citizen Koba]

Anyone see any likelihood of Saunders facing #1 WBO contender Khursidze? The WBO seem quite keen on a possible Saunders - Canelo fight but have ordered Saunders to face back to back mandos after his Nov 26 stay busy. This would in theory put him in line to face the little Georgian punching machine sometime, presumably early, in 2017.

Does anyone actually see that fight happening and how do you reckon it plays out?

[Canelo and GGG]

Anyone see any likelihood of Saunders facing #1 WBO contender Khursidze? The WBO seem quite keen on a possible Saunders - Canelo fight but have ordered Saunders to face back to back mandos after his Nov 26 stay busy. This would in theory put him in line to face the little Georgian punching machine sometime, presumably early, in 2017.

Does anyone actually see that fight happening and how do you reckon it plays out?

Saunders is fighting in November and then probably with Canelo or GGG ,he want to sell belt,fight with khursidze have no sens for BJS and WBO will let him fight Canelo/GGG (money baby)

[Humean]

Anyone see any likelihood of Saunders facing #1 WBO contender Khursidze? The WBO seem quite keen on a possible Saunders - Canelo fight but have ordered Saunders to face back to back mandos after his Nov 26 stay busy. This would in theory put him in line to face the little Georgian punching machine sometime, presumably early, in 2017.

Does anyone actually see that fight happening and how do you reckon it plays out?

Yeah I can see that happening if Canelo doesn't want to fight Saunders for the title very early in the year. I think it would be a risk for Saunders though as even though Saunders could outbox Khurtsidze for long stretches his stamina isn't very good and we know Khurtsidze just keeps on going. I suppose it also might depend on if Jacobs finds his balls and goes ahead with the Golovkin fight in Feb/March.

[Citizen Koba]

Saunders is fighting in November and then probably with Canelo or GGG ,he want to sell belt,fight with khursidze have no sens for BJS and WBO will let him fight Canelo/GGG (money baby)

I agree that it's unlikely and I'm certainly not expecting the WBO to enforce it, but I still think it'd be a nice fight. Not quite sure why Avtandil's been inactive since the Douglas fight though, you would have thought DiBella could have at least found him a stay busy by now.

[Humean]

I agree that it's unlikely and I'm certainly not expecting the WBO to enforce it, but I still think it'd be a nice fight. Not quite sure why Avtandil's been inactive since the Douglas fight though, you would have thought DiBella could have at least found him a stay busy by now.

I saw DiBella say that Khurtsidze had been out for a few months with some sort of illness or injury but he didn't say what it was.

[Citizen Koba]

Yeah I can see that happening if Canelo doesn't want to fight Saunders for the title very early in the year. I think it would be a risk for Saunders though as even though Saunders could outbox Khurtsidze for long stretches his stamina isn't very good and we know Khurtsidze just keeps on going. I suppose it also might depend on if Jacobs finds his balls and goes ahead with the Golovkin fight in Feb/March.

Yeah - I'm thinking BJS should be able to outbox Avtandil but like you say the guy's a lil dynamo and will stay dangerous as Saunders fades. It's certainly not a low risk fight for Billy Joe and he's likely to be reluctant given his strong bargaining position for Golovkin or Canelo.

[Humean]

Yeah - I'm thinking BJS should be able to outbox Avtandil but like you say the guy's a lil dynamo and will stay dangerous as Saunders fades. It's certainly not a low risk fight for Billy Joe and he's likely to be reluctant given his strong bargaining position for Golovkin or Canelo.

If I was Saunders' manager I wouldn't take the risk due to the style but he may have to. I hope that fight does get made though as it is an interesting match-up. I've also heard about Murata for Saunders and he is #3 with the WBO, also #2 is Langford who is also with Frank Warren. Khurtsidze is #1 but i'm not sure if he has been made as the mandatory challenger yet.

[Citizen Koba]

If I was Saunders' manager I wouldn't take the risk due to the style but he may have to. I hope that fight does get made though as it is an interesting match-up. I've also heard about Murata for Saunders and he is #3 with the WBO, also #2 is Langford who is also with Frank Warren. Khurtsidze is #1 but i'm not sure if he has been made as the mandatory challenger yet.

Just because on the promotional situations you'd have to bet on Langford being first pick if the WBO don't enforce Kurtsidze, and it's probably the least dangerous fight for Saunders too. Shame though.

[Eastcoast]

The WBO had scheduled an eliminator between Khurtsidze/Langford, but Langford declined and the WBO never re-ordered another eliminator. With Khurtsidze being sidelined over some minor medical issue for the last 2 months, he's been unavailable anyways.

DiBella just said they want to fight another eliminator to become the mandatory, so he's not the mando just yet. Being #1 in the WBO doesn't automatically make you the mandatory. Just ask Magomedov, Vera, and Rubio.


I think the WBO is waiting to see what Canelo decides. If Canelo wants to move up to 160, he'll be the automatic mandatory over Khurtsidze. If Canelo stays at 154 to fight Cotto, then the WBO may order an eliminator between Khurtsidze and possibly Lemieux.

[BoxingFan85]

Tbh Saunders after Akvov will either fight Canelo if made Mandatory by WBO.. Khurtsidze - may be not, & if they fight Billy will outbox him, he is too small to put up a good fight against the top 3-4 guys now..