Where next for Billy Joe Saunders?

Little was given away by new WBO middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders and his promoter Frank Warren about their plans for 2016 in a recent interview with Kugan Cassius for IFL TV (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0emLPEzJ220). Warren wants Saunders to defend his title three times this year with his first title defence coming in March/April. With wins against Andy Lee, Chris Eubank Jr., Spike O'Sullivan and Nick Blackwell, Saunders has proved that he can mix it at elite level, however now he wants to take on the best the rest of the world has to offer.

Saunders is one of the most underrated fighters at middleweight even though he has won a world title which is surprising considering the opposition he has beaten. After his win against Andy Lee, Saunders came out saying he wanted Cotto or Canelo, however these two fights look unlikely as Miguel Cotto looks set to move back down to 154 lbs (if he fights again) and Saunders simply does not bring enough money to the table for a fight with Canelo.

The main interest has come from knock out sensation Gennady Golovkin who is now 34-0 after knocking out David Lemieux to win the IBF title in October. Triple G's team has already come out in public stating that they have offered Saunders and Warren a sizable amount of money to make the fight happen however in the recent interview both Saunders and Warren seemed reluctant about the fight's potential because they claimed the money was not right.

It's clear that Warren wants to build Saunders up and a fight with Triple G is too high risk at this point. Saunders has already conceded that Triple G is the best in the division whilst also saying that Triple G could beat Eubank and himself on the same night. The best option for Saunders would be a defence against either Arif Magomedov (17-0) or Antoine Douglas (19-0-1) who are both highly ranked fighters on the WBO. A fight with Triple G does not sit well with Frank Warren at the moment and one can understand why. However after a few title defences this will change.

Tom Eckett

@boxingguru44

https://twitter.com/boxingguru44