Billy Joe Saunders has not seen the ring for two years and a half years. The former two weight world champion tasted defeat for the first time when taking on Saul Canelo Alvarez in his last fight.
News of his long awaited comeback has gathered some steam, promoter Eddie Hearn stating in many interviews that Saunders will return soon after many believed he had retired since losing to Canelo.
“We have been working through it now.” Matchroom’s Frank Smith said in an exclusive interview for ProBox TV. “Obviously he has been in the gym training hard, and hopefully next year we will see the return of Billy Joe Saunders. He’s a spectacular fighter, Billy Joe Saunders, we have seen it over the years.”
The comeback fight for Saunders poses many questions at a time where Matchroom are looking for their vast stable to take more crowd pleasing contests.
“It has to be the right fight.” Smith explained. “There is no point in Billy Joe going out there and wiping a guy out and somebody he can beat inside a round. That doesn’t do anything for him, so it is about making the right kind of fight for him. It’s not an all out brawl maybe, but it can’t just be a one way walkover job because it makes no sense for him. Otherwise he might as well just spar in the gym and use that as preparation.”
Saunders won world titles at 160 and 168 pounds, first becoming a world champion winning the WBO middleweight title against Andy Lee nearly eight years ago in Manchester. There has been some talk of Saunders campaigning at light heavyweight in this next stage of his career.
“TBC.” Smith answered to which weight Saunders is likely to return at. “He is working on it now in the gym, but somewhere around super middleweight.”
