Billy Joe Saunders Injured, Fight Against Martin Murray Delayed Again

Carlos ToroJune 4, 2018, 11:30 pm

Billy Joe Saunders suffered yet another injury that will delay his upcoming WBO middleweight title defense.

Saunders, who was scheduled to defend his title against Martin Murray on June 23 in London, suffered an unspecified injury that will postpone the bout. The fight was going to headline a boxing card at the O2 Arena in London planned to be streamed in the United States on ESPN+.

Both Saunders and promoter Frank Warren made the announcement on Twitter, which you can see below.

Apologise for any inconvenience due to injury I had to withdraw from the 23 rd you hv your ups in boxing but last 3 months been downs sorry to Martin and the fans be Bk soon

— billyjoesaunders (@bjsaunders_) June 3, 2018

Due to an injury suffered by Billy Joe Saunders, unfortunately he has had to withdraw from his June 23rd fight with Martin Murray at the o2 Arena.

A full statement on the show will be made tomorrow.

We apologise for any inconvenience.

— Frank Warren (@frankwarren_tv) June 3, 2018

The fight was originally supposed to happen on April 14, but Saunders suffered a hand injury which initially postponed the fight. In a video posted on his Instagram account, Murray expressed his frustrations at having to wait for his middleweight world title shot and frustrations of Saunders potentially chasing a fight against Canelo Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin.

“He’s sh*t out again. The first time, it was his hand. Now it’s his hamstring. We know that’s trying to make a big money fight with Golovkin or Canelo and I’m too risky to fight. He just don’t want to fight me, but there’s nothing I can do. This is the second time I’ve took myself away from my family, got my body in this condition, ready to fight, and I get told last minute it’s canceled,” Murray said.

THE FIGHT IS OFF!! Billy Joe Saunders has shit out again! Gutted is an understatement but nothing i can do. Just want to apologise to everyone who’s bought tickets and booked hotels and thank everyone for their continued support. Hopefully another training camp doesn’t go to waste and my management team can get me a fight sorted in the next couple of weeks

A post shared by Martin Murray (@martin_murray_boxing) on Jun 3, 2018 at 2:30am PDT

Saunders, who won the WBO title from Andy Lee in 2015, but has only defended the title three times. His last defense took place last December when he handily beat former world champion David Lemieux on HBO.

Murray has challenged for a world title four times, but sports an 0-3-1 record in those fights. Murray has fought for the WBO and WBA super middleweight, WBC and WBA middleweight titles in the past, facing the likes of George Groves, Sergio Martinez, Felix Sturm, Arthur Abraham and Golovkin. Murray has since then won his last three fights.