Billy Joe Saunders could be on the verge of a comeback five years after his last fight.
Saunders was a superb middleweight who beat Andy Lee to become world champion and after defending the belt a number of times against the likes of Willie Monroe Jr and David Lemieux, he moved up to super middleweight and won the WBO strap.
Following two defences, he entered a unification with Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez in 2021 but had to retire in round eight after ‘Canelo’ landed an uppercut that broke his orbital bone.
That was the last time he was in the ring, but speaking recently to talkSPORT Boxing, Saunders was honest about where he is at right now and admitted there is one man who has been in touch that would tempt him to return.
“I’ve got to be realistic and put myself amongst the people that you look at and think they’ve got a bit of age because they’re not any good, technically. The likes of Eubank, I’ll be honest, the Eubanks have been in touch.
“They’ve seen me training, obviously, and then the phones are up. They’re thinking they’re going to put up a truckload of money; you’ve been out five years, come on, come over to Nigeria and get in the ring.”
It was then put to him that Eubank would be the perfect opponent if he was to come back.
“It is the ideal, of course it is.”
Saunders fought Eubank in London back in 2014. He started fast and banked plenty of early rounds before Eubank found his feet and imposed himself, but not enough to get the victory. Two judges scored the fight for Saunders 115-114 and 115-113, and the third 116-113 for Eubank Jr.
The animosity never went away, even as Saunders went on to become a two-weight world champion, while Eubank’s biggest nights came last year against his generational rival Conor Benn, who he beat in the first match and lost to in the second match. He has not fought since, but he has vowed he is not yet retired and is instead taking time off to raise his newborn twins.
