In the aftermath of the WBO middleweight championship bout, Billy Joe Saunders took the belt away from Andy Lee.
The 26-year old Saunders wants is still undefeated, improving to 23-0 with 12 KOs. Now the question is, who will he fight next? The middleweight division is becoming one of the more illustrious weight classes in the sport with Canelo Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin holding two other belts.
Saunders doesn't want to fight them-yet. His choice, as he told The Guardian, is Puerto-Rican Miguel Cotto whom Saul "Canelo" Alvarez recently defeated.
"Since I've been a young boy, I've wanted to fight Cotto," Saunders said. "His style suits me. I'd take it next. After two weeks off, I'd get back into camp. I'd love that fight, it would be a dream - and to go to America and do it, would be an even bigger dream."
His proclamation takes away the possibility of a match between him and Gennady Golovkin. Recently, the WBC allowed Canelo Alvarez to take a "voluntary defense" before facing the mandatory challenger Golovkin, according to Boxing News 24.
This means that Alvarez and Golovkin could take on other opponents before they face each other, possibly in September. GGG's trainer Abel Sanchez weighed in.
"Okay, I understand they [Alvarez's team] want to (build up) the fight. Mayweather-Pacquiao was worth $30m five years ago and now it costs hundreds of millions," Sanchez said. "That part is fine, but athletically I'm positive that Canelo won't last nine rounds with Golovkin - whether it happens in May, September 2016 or 2020."
The common reason that these younger fighters pass on Gennady Golovkin is their desire for a big money fight, even though it seems clear that most boxing fans want Golovkin vs. Canelo. With Saunders possibily choosing other opponents, it seems like none of the other middleweight champions want to fight the Kazakh knockout artist.