WBO orders Andrade vs Saunders
The World Boxing Organisation have ordered Demetrius Andrade to defend his title against Billy-Joe Saunders next. The two were supposed to contest the WBO World Middleweight Championship back in the autumn when the belt holder was then Saunders. A subsequent failed drug test led to a 6 month ban by the WBO for Saunders.
Andrade continued to fight on their scheduled date for the WBO belt against Walter Kautondokwa. Last weekend Andrade defended again against Artur Akavov in a fight which didn’t set the world alight to say the least. Andrade won the bout with one of the worst stoppages you will see in boxing, only 40 seconds before we were to go to the judges’ scorecards.
Billy-Joe Saunders had a contest in December against Charles Adamu at Light Heavyweight in order to stay busy. His instagram account has shown a lot of training in recent weeks so it looks like he has been preparing for this contest for a few weeks now.
Matchroom and Queensbury promotions have 30 days to agree the bout, otherwise the fight will go to purse bids. Hearn and Warren agreed the fight before and I am sure they will again for this. It is clear Saunders feels he hasn’t lost his title legitimately and he wants it back. After the Andrade performance at the weekend he no doubt has confidence in his ability to do this.
