EDITOR’S LETTER
The Saunders and Murray saga
IT’S no secret that Frank Warren, Billy Joe Saunders’ promoter, has been talking to the team of middleweight king Gennady Golovkin in recent months. No secret either that Saunders, the WBO boss, has pulled out of two dates with Martin Murray during that time. So it’s easy to see why so many are doubting the legitimacy of Saunders’ latest injury that scuppered the Murray scrap, set for June 23 after the original April 14 date fell through for similar reasons.
“Everyone is being a bit premature if they think we’re about to announce Bill vs Golovkin or Canelo,” Warren said during an early Tuesday morning (June 5) conversation with Boxing News. The promoter, it must be said, did not have the air of a man who had secretly secured the services of a marquee replacement for Saunders.
“I’m sorry for the fans, I’m so sorry for Martin and we’re trying to find an opponent for him,” Warren continued, somewhat despondently. “We’re going to run the [ June 23] show anyway, there’s a lot of boxers that need to be paid, and we’ve offered the fans a refund if they’re not happy. It’s cost us a lot of money.”
The Warren-saunders relationship is a long one. And the promoter’s frustration, as he works against the clock to save a show ruined by Billy Joe’s latest withdrawal, is understandable. But, as Warren said, this is boxing and fighters get injured. It happens. British Boxing Board of Control General Secretary Robert Smith confirmed to BN there is no reason, bar conspiracy theories and conjecture, to doubt that Saunders’ latest problem is indeed a genuine one.
“We’re still waiting for a medical certificate and I expect to get one,” Smith said before conversation turned to the most unfortunate consequence in all of this – Martin Murray will not get paid if he doesn’t fight. And even if he does, it’s unlikely he’ll fight anyone to command the kind of purse he would have received for a world title challenge. At 35 years old and expecting a tidy sum with retirement on the horizon, that’s a tough break for Murray to say the least.
“It’s up to the managers of the boxers to negotiate that at the start,” Smith replied when asked if there should be a ruling to ensure fighters are guaranteed income in situations like this. “It may sound unfair, but injuries occur, and if injuries are proved with a medical certificate, there’s not much that we can do. It would be different if any injuries were not genuine, and in that case, of course we can step in.”
And it’s true, there is no evidence – none whatsoever – to suggest foul play. It shouldn’t be forgotten that Saunders won’t be getting paid either. But at the age of 28, and with a WBO belt already around his waist, his future remains a lucrative one even if his behaviour this week was poor.
Turning up on Twitter to say he’s ready for Golovkin just before officially withdrawing from the Murray bout was bad judgement. So too was his threat to give Murray ‘a straightener’ should he see him in Manchester this weekend. In between, he suggested it would be foolish to take on Murray at less than 100 per cent with so much at stake, which of course is not just the WBO title, it’s a shot at Golovkin or Canelo.
The southpaw, who only last month promised he would fulfil his obligations with Murray, is expected to return against an opponent who isn’t Murray in September. The same month that Canelo and Golovkin may or may not fight a rematch already tainted by the former’s failure to pass a drugs test. Without question, Saunders has been dragged into the saga at a time when his sole focus should have been on Murray.
“Well, if you won’t fight me then I’ll just go and fight Billy Joe instead,” Canelo may have cried to Golovkin, while winking at Saunders, only to see the Kazakh sidle up to the Englishman and declare, “No you won’t! Because he’s fighting me!”
Saunders should not be anyone’s pawn and Murray, one of the sport’s good guys, is so much better than all of this.
The hope is that both boxers get what they deserve.
Follow us and keep up to date