Frank Warren reveals Billy Joe Saunders comeback after four years

Frank Warren has confirmed that Billy Joe Saunders intends to return to the ring after four years away. 

Saunders (30-1) last stepped through the ropes in 2021, to face Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez at the AT&T stadium in Texas. He suffered a broken eye socket from an uppercut in the eighth round and was retired in between rounds. Now, the former two-weight champion is looking to return.

Warren, his former promoter spoke to talkSport ringside at the Anthony Cacace vs Leigh Wood fight over the weekend. He revealed that the former WBO champion had had a meeting with him to discuss fighting again. 

Warren said: “He came up to see me a couple of weeks ago and we had a chat, after a couple of fights [at light-heavyweight] he feels he can get down [to super middleweight].” 

Meg Oliphant/Matchroom

Saunders has put on weight during his recess from fighting, admitting to The Ring that he reached 18 stone at his heaviest. 

The Hall of Fame promoter also addressed a potential rematch with Chris Eubank Jr in the future for Saunders with iFL TV. 

Warren said on Saunders vs Eubank Jr II: “It Makes a lot of sense if they were going to do one, I mean that’s the natural fight.”

The first fight was over a decade ago in 2014 when both men were still rising stars in the middleweight division and Saunders took a split decision win to claim the British, Commonwealth and European titles. 

The bad blood from their first meeting has not dissipated and the two have been exchanging insults on social media for years, keeping the appetite for a rematch alive.

The former WBO middleweight and super-middleweight champion spoke recently to The Ring about his hiatus from boxing and his plan to make a comeback. Saunders said that the last four years have been the hardest of his life, trying to fill the hole that boxing left in his life. 

He said: “Life without boxing is harder than I ever imagine and I’m going to be honest with you, I don’t know that I will ever fill that gap.”

He continued: “I haven’t really found anything to take me away from my thoughts still. I thought that time goes by, and I’ll get over it, but it’s very hard to get over something when you’ve done it since five years old.”

A comeback, then, seems inevitable for Saunders who is focused on just getting himself back to fighting but admits he still has world title ambitions for himself - even becoming a three-weight world champion. 

Saunders told The Ring: “It’s more a case of needing to do it for myself rather than anything else, including world titles. My biggest goal would be to become a three-weight world champion but let’s just get back to fighting and then see where we are.”