By Jake Donovan





The saga surrounding the World Boxing Organization (WBO) middleweight title was met with yet another plot twist Friday morning. Unbeaten contender Billy Joe Saunders—previously rumored to have been willing to once again step aside—has instead enforced his mandatory status for a due title shot versus recently crowned Andy Lee.





A purse bid hearing has been ordered by the sanctioning body, to be held on Tuesday, January 27th at London Stansted Airport. The minimum acceptable bid for the forthcoming middleweight title fight is $200,000.





“I’m within touching distance of fighting for the WBO world title now and I can’t wait,” said Saunders (21-0, 11KOs), who earned the title shot with a narrow points win over Chris Eubank Jr. in their grudge match which doubled as a final eliminator last November.





The showdown with Eubank Jr. came about after Saunders— a member of the 2008 Great Britain Olympic boxing team who competed in Beijing—agreed to step aside and allow Lee to challenge Matt Korobov for the vacant title last December. The pairings were the final result of an ongoing series of strange occurrences surrounding the title.





Korobov was originally in line to face then-unbeaten titlist Peter Quillin, with Jay-Z's Roc Nation Sports winning the right to promote the fight with a massive purse bid offering last summer. Thei company's presence at the hearing through Top Rank—who promotes Korobov—and Golden Boy, Quillin's de facto promoter at the time for a loop, even more so with its winning bid of more than $1.9 million.





Quillin cited familial reasons for not being able to honor the fight in accordance with the proposed terms, vacating the belt and thus passing on a guaranteed $1.4 million payday.





The move was a part of what became an odd journey to crown a new titlist. Korobov was expected to be pushed towards a showdown with Saunders, only for the unbeaten Brit to be passed over in favor of WBO 154 lb. titlist Demetrius Andrade, whose co-promoter Artie Pellulo insisted he get to skip the line with plans to move up in weight and capture a second belt.





Pellulo was granted his wish, but Andrade and his team instead moved in another direction though ultimately ending up without a fight when a 154 lb. defense versus Jermell Charlo.





Meanwhile, Saunders emerged back in the picture, but agreed to let Lee—a longtime fringe contender—take his place versus Korobov, while settling for an equally big payday at home in an eliminator with domestic rival Eubank Jr.

Saunders' cooperation in allowing the title fight to happen came with the understanding that he would be next in line. His title contention status was further confirmed during the annual WBO convention.

Irishman Lee subsequently won the title with a stunning sixth round knockout of Korobov last December in Las Vegas, two weeks following Saunders hanging the first loss on Eubank Jr's career in London.

Rumors circulated of Saunders once again stepping aside, this time to allow Lee a voluntary defense, with talks of the Irishman facing Peter Quillin as part of Al Haymon's 'Premiere Boxing Champions' series on NBC—be it the flagship station or its affiliate sports network.





For that fight to happen, Lee would presumably have to follow Quillin's lead from last summer and vacate the title. Otherwise, he can expect to face Saunders in his first defense.

“I’ve done everything on my side, I’m the mandatory challenger, I stepped aside to allow Lee and Korobov to fight and I beat Eubank in the final eliminator to earn my shot,” Saunders noted. “All I want to do is fight for the title and win it.

“Lee is a great fighter and he proved himself by winning the world title in Las Vegas, but now he’s got to fight me and he will not deny me my dream of becoming world champion.”





Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of BoxingScene.com, as well as a member of Transnational Boxing Ratings Board and the Boxing Writers Association of America. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox