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As expected, Billy Joe Saunders will make the first defense of his WBO super middleweight title on November 9th as part of the KSI-Logan Paul undercard in Los Angeles. His opponent will be announced “next week.”
Confirmed
— Matchroom Boxing (@MatchroomBoxing) September 20, 2019
WBO World Super-Middleweight Champ @bjsaunders_ defends his Title on November 9’s #KSILoganPaul2 card in LA!
Opponent announced next week pic.twitter.com/G1mvkDaOvH
Saunders (28-0, 13 KO) moved up to 168 after three successful defenses of the WBO middleweight title, capped off by a dominant performance against David Lemieux in the latter’s native Canada. After some confusion over whether or not “Zurdo” Ramirez had vacated his super middleweight title in his move to 175, the Hertfordshire native took an easy decision over Shefat Isufi to claim the belt in his divisional debut.
As far as an opponent, Eddie Hearn recently stated that Gabe Rosado was a possible opponent “on a list of many.” Saunders doesn’t have a mandatory at the moment, though #1 Erik Bazinyan and #2 Rohan Murdock have been ordered to fight for the right, so this is worryingly possible. The next-highest-ranked contender is #3 Zach Parker, who’s still a rising prospect and whose handlers shouldn’t let him anywhere Saunders, and #4 Zac Dunn is already booked for October.
Expect disappointment, is what I’m saying.