Billy Joe Saunders’ Return, Zhilei Zhang’s Next Steps

November 15, 2023
1 year

In some boxing news, Billy Joe Saunders has opened up about his potential return to boxing after more than two years out.

The boxer, who has won belts at 160 and 168, has not fought since his loss to Canelo Alvarez in 2021. Saunders had the chance to grab the WBA, WBC and WBO titles at super middleweight.

However, he ultimately fell short as he lost via an eighth-round stoppage after Saunders quit in the corner. A severe eye injury emerged, which could have threatened the boxer’s career.

But now that he has overcome that, the attention has turned towards his comeback fight. The boxer has admitted that he has put on the pounds, which will leave him with a decision over which weight class he fights at.

Saunders is comfortable at super middleweight, but for his comeback fight, a bout at 175 could make sense. And that is something he will have to weigh up moving forward as shown by his following comments.

Saunders’ Return

“I’m gonna come back for my first fight at light-heavyweight, I’ve had two-and-a-half years out of the ring and I want to be fair on my body. I don’t want to get straight down to 12st (super-middleweight), so I’ll make 12st 7lbs (light-heavyweight) and keep fit over Christmas and then look at the big names after Christmas and after I’ve blown the cobwebs off,” Saunders

This naturally begs the question: who could Saunders face?  Well, a fight with Chris Eubank Jr. could crop up once again. Saunders does have a win over him, but Eubank’s resurgence has led to calls for a rematch.

The latter stopped Liam Smith in the tenth round with a dominant performance under his new trainer, Bomac. And there is enough of a rivalry in place, given Saunders’ prior comments about the fight.

Saunders-Eubank Jr.

“I would come back for a big fight and obviously he is a big fight. I’m a big fight to him and he’s a big fight to me. So listen, I’m open for talks, they can contact me direct, I’m my own boss, we can get cracking and see where it goes. But from a boxing side of things, I think he’s got worse if I’m honest. I don’t need to go in there to prove I’m a better man than him, I already know that. But it would be good to make him look stupid,” Saunders

Outside of that, there is a chance that Saunders could fight Demetrius Andrade. The pair had long been linked with a fight, only for talks to break down.

Since then, Saunders has been linked with a fight against David Benavidez. And since the latter is also a two-weight world champion, a bout with Saunders could come about. After all, Andrade is undefeated.

Meanwhile, Saunders does not appear any closer to getting a title shot at 168. Canelo holds all the belts, as fights against Benavidez and Dmitry Bivol appear more pressing.

But one thing Saunders has shown is that he is a world class talent. And there is no getting away from that.

Zhang’s Next Steps

Meanwhile, Zhilei Zhang’s next steps have become a lot clearer. Following his stoppage win over Joe Joyce, the Chinese retained his WBO interim heavyweight belt.

That made Zhang the mandatory for Oleksandr Usyk’s belts. Since then, the latter has signed a deal with Tyson Fury for the undisputed heavyweight championship of the world.

That has naturally led to question marks over where Zhang goes next. The boxer could wait on the sidelines and see the outcome of the Fury-Usyk fight. However, his manager, Terry Lane, has other plans in place.

“There could be something that happens before that, but again, we’re now at plans B and C now because our Plan A was Usyk or Fury. And now they’re tied up. Just to go right into it, we want Joshua and Wilder. I think those guys are still trying to make that fight. So, if they want to do that, great, whatever. If they want to fight, we’ll fight either of those guys, no problem. Guys like Parker or Ortiz, guys like that. Again, it’s kind of a placeholder fight but Zhilei wants big names, he doesn’t want easy fights. He wants big names, the biggest names possible, to move forward,” Lane

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