Billy Joe Saunders’s next WBO middleweight title defense has been expected to be against Advantil Khurtsidze for a while, but now we have confirmation in the form July 8th date in London as promoters Frank Warren and Lou DiBella have come to an agreement. This is an extremely fascinating middleweight matchup, one of the best the division can make outside of its Gennady Golovkin/Canelo Alvarez superfight coming this fall. Reportedly Tyson Fury is looking to make his return on the same card.
Billy Joe Saunders (24-0, 12 KOs) won his title in December of 2015 in a terrible fight with long time contender Any Lee. Saunders dropped Lee twice early in the bout, but little else happened and Saunders was given a very, very narrow decision win. It has been a year and a half since that night now and the English belt holder has only defended once. That defense was against a little known, but seemingly overmatched Russian opponent in Artur Akavov. Saunders dramatically unperformed that night, however, and again only got away with a narrow win. The middleweight title reign of Billy Joe Saunders has been uninspiring so far to say the least.
That could change in July with a win over the surging Advantil Khurtsidze (33-2-2, 22 KOs), but that is easier said and done. A true wrecking ball, the Georgia contender has smashed out two unbeaten opponents in a row in Antoine Douglas and Tommy Langford to earn his shot. At only 5’4″ he comes into every middleweight bout with a tremendous size and reach disadvantage that very much seems there to be exploited, but he has been able to overcome these deficiencies through sheer force of will. No middleweight comes forward with more determinination and aggression than Khurtsidze. It will be intriguing to see if Saunders can keep him away.
As for Tyson Fury (25-0, 18 KOs), I remain skeptical that he will return for this card. If he does, expect it to be against a very low level opponent.
