WBO world middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders is confident he will fight division kingpin Gennady Golovkin in the summer, provided he beats Max Bursak on April 30.
The Hatfield stylist wrested the title from Andy Lee with an accomplished performance in December and takes on the Ukrainian at the Copper Box in London.
Though he is not underestimating Bursak, Saunders has his sights set on a unification fight with WBA and IBF champion Golovkin.
“Bursak can cause problems for people. But if I go in there with the same mentality as I did against Andy Lee it should be a good night for me. But it’s not about this fight, it’s about the big fight in the summer,” he told Boxing News.
“I’m a fighter, I fight who my manager and promoter put in front of me. I think every world champion should have a comfortable first defence.”
Saunders has drawn criticism for signing to fight Bursak – who has lost to Martin Murray and Jarrod Fletcher in the past – though the challenger does hold wins over Nick Blackwell, Giovanni De Carolis and Brian Vera.
Plenty have called for Saunders to take on Golovkin, who has also expressed interest in fighting the 26-year-old, and Saunders’ promoter, Frank Warren, hinted that the Kazakh wrecking ball could come to the UK in the summer.
Saunders has complete faith in his promoter and remains confident that he will square off with ‘GGG’ this year.
“It’s April, there’s not a stadium it [a fight with Golovkin] could go in which would maximise both of our earnings. I’m very confident the Golovkin fight gets made, there are other options but I’m sure it gets made. This summer, it’ll be the big unification fights.”
