This almost got out of hand.
Billy Joe Saunders has a mandatory challenger in front of him as Georgia’s Avtandil Khurtsidze stopped Tommy Langford in the fifth round to claim the interim WBO middleweight title in Leicester.
Khurtsidze scored his sixth consecutive stoppage victory to set up a clash with Saunders, who wasted no time in getting the trash talk started now that hope is dwindling over a monster clash with Gennady Golovkin.
In the immediate aftermath of Khurtsidze’s win, he was approached by a very vocal Saunders backstage at the Leicester Arena and the reigning WBO champ had to be pulled away from his newest rival as tempers threatened to boil over.
Promoter Frank Warren announced that Saunders vs. Khurtsidze is set to take place on 8 July, with the venue “probably in London.”
Saunders is already busying himself in hyping up the bout, as well as attempting to camp out in Khurtsidze’s head, with BoxNation capturing the below post-fight exchange between the fighters.
IT'S ALL KICKED OFF BETWEEN @bjsaunders_ AND KHURTSIDZE! pic.twitter.com/KNrzOok6j8
— Queensberry Promotions (@Queensberry) April 22, 2017
“Langford could have had a field day, you could see Khurtsidze was blowing hard but fair to play him,” Saunders told BT Sport.
“I will show you who he is when I fight him. If I can’t beat him I might as well forget about the big fights.”
