Billy Joe Saunders turns down Gabriel Rosado

With the collapse of Luis Ortiz vs. Alexander Ustinov, Golden Boy Promotions has been scrambling for a co-feature to join Canelo Alvarez vs. Liam Smith on September 17th. WBO Middleweight Champion Billy Joe Saunders was reportedly in the running, but has officially withdrawn after turning down a fight with Gabriel Rosado.

Rosado (23-9, 13 KO) obviously doesn’t deserve a title shot, so the generous among you may see this as Saunders (23-0, 12 KO) maintaining the dignity of his belt or something. Thing is, Saunders is no stranger to crap matchups. Between his fights with Chris Eubank Jr. and Andy Lee, Saunders fought 17-22-2 Yoann Bloyer, who had lost seven of his previous eight and has since lost five of six. Saunders was also set to fight Max Bursak earlier this year before pulling out with a hand injury.

Bursak is ranked 6th by the WBO while Rosado is ranked 11th. Bursak is not ranked by any other sanctioning body, though the WBC have Rosado at 13th.

I recognize that as a blogger I probably don’t have much of a leg to stand on, but it’s hard to see Saunders’ reign as anything but pathetic. Besides the blatant ducking of Gennady Golovkin, he hasn’t fought since September and won’t even fight a fairly safe tuneup in Rosado.