Connor Boundy reports on developments in the middleweight division…
European, British and Commonwealth champion Billy Joe Saunders has agreed to step aside so WBO middleweight champion Andy Lee can make a voluntary defence against former world title holder Peter Quillin in New York on April 11th.
Saunders became the mandatory challenger when he beat Chris Eubank Jr last November at the ExCel Arena in East London. The move would see Saunders fighting on the undercard and contracted to face the winner in the summer. Andy Lee is coming off of the best win of his career to date, knocking out the former amateur standout, Russia’s Matvey Korobov, in six rounds last December in Las Vegas. His opponent Quillin, a New Yorker with Cuban ancestry, was the WBO middleweight champion this time last year. He was due to fight Korobov and could have earned a career high $1.4 million payday but decided to vacate the belt.
Saunders’ promoter Frank Warren will hope that Lee will come out the victor as he will be looking to put together a blockbuster show in the summer. The talk is that an outdoor stadium will be the likely venue if a Lee-Saunders fight takes place. Ireland or the UK will be the likely destinations.
This week the IBF have announced that the Saunders camp have until this week if they are willing to start negotiations with Hassan N’Dam to fight for their vacant title. If Saunders declines the offer, the IBF will move down their rankings to the next available challenger, Canada’s David Lemieux.