Weird one this, not sure if Saunders will get to fight him next instead of Isufi?
There is a growing amount of uncertainty surrounding Billy Joe Saunders’ upcoming world title fight.
It was announced last week that the Brit will be facing Shefat Isufi for the WBO super-middleweight belt – recently vacated by Gilberto Ramirez, who is planning to move up to light-heavyweight.
However, Ramirez has since come out and denied that he ever vacated, insisting he might yet move back down to super-middleweight and defend his crown.
As a result, the WBO have now edited their rankings, taken him out of the light-heavyweight list and ‘reinstated’ him as super-middleweight world champion.
“I have not vacated the title,” Ramirez told ESTO, “I will fight at 175lbs to see how I feel, I spoke to Paquito [Valcarcel – WBO president], I told him I have an optional fight and he gave me his support.
“We still do not have a confirmed date for this preparation fight at 175lbs, but it could take place in April.
“If a unification with [Callum] Smith or another champion comes up, we will take it and then we would settle in half-full, I would move up after unifying my title, I hope it can happen in the coming months.”
It’s unclear what this means for Billy Joe Saunders vs Shefat Isufi, as there cannot be two WBO super-middleweight titles (this isn’t the WBA, after all).
WBO representatives are yet to respond to requests for comment from talkSPORT.com.
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