Billy Joe Saunders vs. David Lemieux official for December 16th on HBO

It’s going down.

The middleweight WBO title fight between champion Billy Joe Saunders and challenger David Lemieux is reportedly set for December 16th. TVA Sports claims that it will take place at Place Bell in Laval, Canada, while the above-linked L.A. Times names the Bell Center in Montreal among the bidders.

I’m sure one of them has a ring of truth.

What we do know is that it will take place on HBO, where Lemieux is a regular, and be Saunders’ first time on both the network and North American soil.

Saunders (25-0, 12 KO) has had a rather dismal title reign since scraping by Andy Lee in a snoozer back in 2015. After a narrow win over Artur Akavov a year later, he had a planned fight with Avtandil Khurtsidze scrapped when the latter was booked on racketeering charges and went on to fight Willie Monroe Jr., whom he had previously turned down.

Lemieux (38-3, 33 KO) is 4-0 since his loss to Gennady Golovkin, including a Knockout of the Year contender against fellow slugger Curtis Stevens. He is easily the most dangerous fighter of Saunders’ career and, according to De La Hoya, would be in line to fight Canelo Alvarez should he destroy Saunders and the planned Canelo-GGG rematch fizzle.

Top-notch middleweight fight. Well done, lads.