Billy Joe Saunders vs. Shefat Isufi Set For May 18 For Interim WBO Title
Billy Joe Saunders and Shefat Isufi will do battle for a WBO super middleweight title but not the full world championship.
It was announced that Saunders vs. Isufi will now take place on May 18 at Lamex Stadium in England. The fight will be for the interim WBO super middleweight title.
The two were originally set to fight on April 13 at Wembley Arena, but it would have been for the presumably-vacant WBO world title at 168 pounds. The title was assumed vacant at the time as the rankings were updated the day prior to the original fight announcement and it showed that titleholder Gilberto Ramirez had vacated the belt to move up in weight and become the light heavyweight division’s top contender.
As it turned out, Ramirez never vacated the title and was moving up to light heavyweight to test out the waters before deciding on whether or not to vacate the super middleweight title. Upon hearing this, the April 13 fight card was scrapped and Saunders vs. Isufi was postponed for an unspecified date in May.
Saunders is a former WBO middleweight champion but vacated the title after failing a drug test weeks before a title defense against Demetrius Andrade in Boston. Andrade would end up winning the vacant middleweight title last October by defeating Walter Kautondokwa.
Isufi is a Serbian boxer who has held the WBO Intercontinental title since 2017. Isufi, who sports a 27-3-2 pro record, has won his last 10 fights with seven of those wins coming from inside the distance.
