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Billy Joe Saunders feels that it is inevitable that his and long-time rival Chris Eubank Jr.’s paths will cross again when he steps back into a boxing ring. Saunders has been inactive since his stoppage defeat against Saul “Canelo” Alvarez three years ago, but he has teased at a return to fight his old foe Eubank.
Saunders and Eubank’s rivalry started back in 2014, when Saunders won a close contest by split decision, handing Eubank his first defeat. A rematch between the two seemed inevitable as the pair went back and forth in interviews and online. When Saunders lifted both the WBO middleweight and super middleweight titles, a defense against Eubank was always a discussion but never materialized. Now the rematch that has been called for since their first fight a decade ago could finally be on the cards, according to Saunders.
“Everyone knows it’s going to be me and Eubank,” Saunders told Box Nation. “Eubank knows that he’s going to end up fighting me. I know if I come back, I’m going to end up fighting him. We will settle our differences in the ring, rather than on Instagram or in interviews.”
Saunders split from longtime promoter Frank Warren back in 2019 to sign with Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing in a search for bigger fights. Hearn delivered, giving him a career-highest payday in his fight against Canelo. But Saunders has since confirmed that his agreement with Hearn is over, and he is now a promotional free agent. The former titleholder is speaking to broadcasters to decide a plan for his ring return, which will hopefully lead to his overdue rematch with Eubank.
“Now I’m a free agent, I can have a chat [with other promoters],” Saunders said. “People didn’t know I was a free agent, but now I am. If a promoter wants to get in touch, which I know they will, Netflix have reached out, so it’s interesting times at the minute. I’ve got something planned, a sort of route that I’m going to go down and that give me the incentive I need to get in the gym to work alongside these young, hungry fighters.”