When Billy Joe Saunders was crowned WBO world middleweight champion, he would never have imagined he would make a first defence at the Lagoon Leisure Centre in Glasgow.

But the Englishman does just that after a series of setbacks in what has been a frustrating 2016 since he twice floored Irishman Andy Lee on his way to winning the belt on points nearly a year ago.

First there was talk of a lucrative world title unification fight with world No. 1 Gennady Golovkin, then a rematch with Chris Eubank Jr.

Neither happened while a hand injury ruled out a fight against Ukraine's Max Bursak and there have since been two more postponements of Saunders' first defence.

Saunders had been due to defend his belt against Russian Artur Akavov (16-1, 7 KOs) at Cardiff's Motorpoint Arena on October 22, but suffered a muscle injury in training causing the fight to be postponed to last weekend.

A mix-up with Akavov's medical documents meant the fight was pushed back to this Saturday and moved to Scotland.

"It's been so frustrating for Bill who has had injuries and pull-outs over the last year," Saunders' promoter Frank Warren said.

"Chris Eubank Jr mucked us about and never signed a deal for a rematch, but hopefully Bill will get the ring rust off in this next one and then we can start looking forward to a really big one."

At the start of the year, Golovkin's team made Saunders an offer -- believed to be £2.2 million -- to face the Kazakh knockout machine. But Saunders (23-0, 12 KOs), 27, turned it down because he wanted more to fight Golovkin (36-0, 33 KOs), the WBA-WBC-IBF world middleweight champion. Warren hopes to match Saunders with either Golovkin of former WBC champion Canelo Alvarez in 2017.

But 2008 Olympian Saunders, who may have former world heavyweight champion Tyson Fury in his corner this weekend, insists he is not taking Akavov easy after his extended exile from the ring. "Nothing comes easy in boxing and I'm definitely not taking Akavov for granted," Saunders said. "He's a strong fighter and very dangerous and if I don't come in 100 per cent then he could cause an upset in my first title defence.

"I'm ready to fight him [Golovkin] where ever, in England, in America or in a field. There's nothing that can get in the way of stopping this. I'm not pricing myself out, I will fight any man born.

"He's a good puncher, a good puncher and has a good chin. But he's a man and he's definitely beatable."

Akavov, a southpaw like Saunders, is ranked No. 10 by the WBO and has had his last two fights in New York with promoter Lou Di Bella.

The concern for Saunders and his team is the Hatfield boxer's ring rust but his last two title fight performances -- against Lee and Eubank Jr -- were impressive and he is expected to come through without trouble.