Events are aligning for great weekend of sport in early September.
It was announced on Monday that Andy Lee's next title defence will be against English man Billy Joe Saunders. The mooted date at the moment is September 5th.
That's the same day as England vs Ireland in a Rugby World Cup warm-up game at Twickenham and also the day before the All-Ireland hurling final. Ireland also play two Euro 2016 qualifiers at that time, away to Gibraltar on September 4th and then at home to Georgia on September 7th.
At a press conference in London, Saunders' promoter Frank Warren confirmed the fight. The date however is not completely certain yet.
@bjsaunders_ will move to the Wembley show for his warm up fight, before facing Andy Lee, which is likely to take place September 5th.
— Frank Warren (@frankwarren_tv) June 15, 2015
Lee's trainer Andy Booth tweeted to say that him and Warren are 'working through the details'.
Yes.... It will be .@AndyLeeBoxing vs @bjsaunders_ in September. @frankwarren_tv and I are working through the detail! @WorldBoxingOrg
— Adam Booth (@boxingbooth) June 15, 2015
25-year-old Saunders is 21-0 in his career with 11 of those victories coming via knockout.
There is a possibility of the fight being held at Thomond Park. That's an ambition Lee has spoken about in the past. Other mooted locations for the bout have been Dublin and somewhere in London, possibly a football stadium.
Lee's last fight was a split draw against Peter Quillin back in April. The Limerick man's WBO middleweight title was not on the line that night as the American missed the weight.
Picture credit: Tim Hunger / SPORTSFILE World Boxing Organization
