WBO Orders Purse-Bid for Saunders vs Andrade
Los Angeles (July 12, 2018)- The WBO has ordered their middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders to defend his title against Demetrius Andrade or go to a purse-bid in 10 days.
The bid has been set at a minimum of $200, 000.
With neither fighter being particularly active, facing each other provides an interesting matchup for the pair of tactical fighters. Andrade hasn’t fought since last October when he outpointed Alantez Fox and Saunders has been out of action since December of 2017 when he shut out David Lemieux in a dominant decision win.
Andrade recently made headlines when he left long time co-promoters Banner and Star boxing. Rumors have circulated alleging a possible signing to either Top Rank or Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom boxing.
Plagued by injuries Saunders pulled out of two fights with Martin Murray and had a deal in place to face Gennady Golovkin that was cancelled when Golden Boy came to terms for Saul Alvarez to face Golovkin in a rematch.
In an interview with Tom Loeffler earlier this month he stated “It wasn’t a matter of if, we had a deal to fight Saunders if Canelo didn’t agree to terms. Gennady would’ve been more than happy to face an undefeated champion and unify.”
