It looked like WBO middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders would appear on the big September 17th card in Las Vegas topped by Canelo Alvarez against Britain’s defending WBO 154-pound champion Liam Smith, but now, with Saunders turning down a fight with tough and experienced warrior Gabriel Rosado, it seems unlikely the southpaw will be making his U.S debut next month.
And Rosado, who says he signed a contract to fight Saunders “a week ago,” has torn into the unbeaten Brit on Twitter, calling Saunders “a coward.”
“He shook! I signed my contract a week ago…We ready,” Rosado, 23-9(13) wrote. “Excuses in why he turned down the fight are pathetic. #CowboyStadium. HBO pay-per-view, it gets no bigger than that #Coward.”
For his part, Saunders, 23-0(12) said he felt he felt he would gain nothing by beating the 30-year-old. It does seem strange for Saunders to turn down the chance to fight on such a big stage, against a fighter he says he knows he could defeat. What will Saunders do next instead? There is talk that Canelo Alvarez, if he defeats Smith, will challenge Saunders for his WBO belt; the fight being a testing of the middleweight waters for the Mexican star as he preps for the big one with GGG. Maybe Saunders will remain idle until this big fight takes place, possibly in December.
But Saunders, a seriously talented fighter who is approaching his peak at age 26, has not boxed this year yet, his last fight being an impressive points win over Andy Lee in December of 2015. Saunders needs to fight and fight soon if he doesn’t want to run the risk of becoming stale and/or rusty. As for Rosado, who is coming off good wins over Joshua Clottey and, last time out, Antonio Gutierrez, he Tweeted how he will now “see what @Golden Boy line up – ready for whoever.”
Rosado might have lost in the really big fights of his career – to the likes of GGG, David Lemieux and Peter Quillin – but he is never in a bad or dull fight. Saunders’ decision has perplexed many.