Walking away from boxing is the hardest thing any fighter has to do, and now one former world champion from the UK has revealed that he has resisted the urge to return despite a lucrative offer.
Many ageing fighters announce their retirement from the sport but then ultimately change their mind and come back for another night under the lights. Former world champion Tyson Fury is one famous example, having retired more than once, most recently spending all of 2025 on the sidelines before coming back this year and working towards a showdown with Anthony Joshua.
At the other end of the scale, Derek Chisora is now in his 40s and a veteran of 50 fights, which is when he said he would call it a day. However, he has not yet officially retired and often mentions potential opponents for a 51st contest, such as WBA heavyweight champion Murat Gassiev most recently.
A new post on X by iFL TV reveals that 36-year-old Billy Joe Saunders has said he has been offered a huge amount of money to return.
“IFL TV has been reliably informed that former two-weight world champion Billy Joe Saunders has allegedly rejected a ‘seven-figure’ payday to return to the ring against an unnamed opponent.
Saunders hasn’t boxed in over five years, but he has fuelled speculation of a potential return on social media.”
Saunders was a slick middleweight and super middleweight who beat Chris Eubank Jr early in his career and later held the WBO middleweight title from 2015 to 2018 after defeating Andy Lee and defending it against the likes of Willie Monroe Jr and David Lemieux.
He moved up to super-middleweight in 2019 and beat Shefat Isufi for the vacant WBO title, which he retained against Marcelo Coceres and Martin Murray before losing the undisputed title contest he had with Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez in 2021.
That ended in a knockout and a broken orbital bone in Texas, and though he has often teased it, Saunders has not boxed since.
