{"id":661051,"date":"2026-06-27T11:59:07","date_gmt":"2026-06-27T11:59:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/661051\/"},"modified":"2026-06-27T11:59:07","modified_gmt":"2026-06-27T11:59:07","slug":"billy-joe-saunders-addresses-potential-boxing-comeback-after-5-years-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/661051\/","title":{"rendered":"Billy Joe Saunders addresses potential boxing comeback after 5 years out"},"content":{"rendered":"

Billy Joe Saunders<\/a> has not ruled out a ring return but, at the same time, is acutely aware of the dedication required to step through the ropes.<\/p>\n

The former two-division world champion has not fought since May 2021, back when he suffered an eighth-round stoppage defeat to Canelo Alvarez<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As a result, Saunders was relieved of his WBO super-middleweight title and is yet to have had another fight scheduled, despite being just 31 years old and seemingly having more to offer at world level.<\/p>\n

It must be said, however, that the slick southpaw\u2019s best performances came at 160lbs, where edged a split decision against Chris Eubank Jr in 2014.<\/p>\n

Despite the close scorecards, Saunders proved far too skilled for his domestic rival and ultimately secured a WBO title shot against Andy Lee, who he dethroned with a majority decision victory in 2015.<\/p>\n

The Hertfordshire man\u2019s most accomplished display arguably came against David Lemieux, though, as the razor-sharp technician was almost punch-perfect when they collided in 2017.<\/p>\n

This performance earned him a comprehensive unanimous decision victory on away soil<\/a>, but Saunders now appears to be a far cry from such athletic prowess.<\/p>\n

Speaking with The Stomping Ground<\/a>, the 36-year-old admitted that any comeback would depend greatly on his commitment to training.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m always dragged back into [boxing] one way or another. It\u2019s a game that you miss.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ll think, \u2018You know what, I\u2019m going to go home Monday; I\u2019m going to start training; I\u2019m going to pound the roads; I\u2019m going to get in the gym\u2019. Then Tuesday comes and you\u2019re in the caf\u00e9.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would love to [make a comeback]. Am I good enough now, at 36 [years old]? We don\u2019t know. If I lost the weight and came out like an absolute stallion \u2026 [a return] could be on the cards.\u201d<\/p>\n

Regardless of a possible comeback, Saunders is likely to continue his work as a manager of fighters such as Lewis Edmondson, who comes off a points victory over Lyndon Arthur.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Billy Joe Saunders has not ruled out a ring return but, at the same time, is acutely aware…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":661052,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-661051","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/661051","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=661051"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/661051\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/661052"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=661051"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=661051"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=661051"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}