The 30-year-old his boxing licence suspended by the Boxing Board of Control in March, but he is free to box again now
Billy Joe Saunders, the two-weight world champion at middleweight and super middleweight, has been found guilty of misconduct and fined £15,000 by the British Boxing Board of Control for the video he released during the coronavirus lockdown in which he advised men how to hit their female partners.
The 30-year-old had his boxing licence suspended by the Boxing Board of Control in March but that suspension has now been lifted following the fine. Saunders’ fine will be donated to charity, while the boxer has pledged to donate funds to a domestic abuse charity. Saunders apologised at the time, saying he would “never condone domestic violence”.
Saunders has faced a backlash after posting a video online teaching men how to hit their female partners should they be “giving you a little bit of mouth” during the lockdown. The video drew universal condemnation at the time, including from his promoter Eddie Hearn, who branded his fighter “a prat” adding that he “was ‘appalled” by Saunders’ ‘unacceptable’ video in which the boxer made light of domestic violence.
Saunders, who is currently in training in Portugal with coach Ben Davison, had been close to finalising a deal to face Mexico’s Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez in Las Vegas on 2 May before the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. That contest has now been postponed and the Mexican star may now face Liverpudlian Callum Smith, currently ranked No 1 in the super-middleweight division.
Saunders, who is undefeated in 29 bouts, previously held a world title in the middleweight division before moving up to super-middleweight. Saunders last fought in November in Los Angeles, when he defended the super-middleweight title with a late rounds knockout victory over Marcelo Esteban Coceres.
Saunders was also fined £100,000 by the BBBofC for a social media video in September 2018 that police described as “sickening”, from his car in which an alleged female drug addict was goaded by the roadside in Sheffield.
Elsewhere, the Boxing Board are looking into homophobic and trans-phobic comments on a social media channel made by the novice professional boxer James Hawley, whose management company MTK Global have dropped him as a client following his views on a question and answer session on Tik Tok.
The 21-year-old Bromley middleweight gave an expletive-strewn response on his TikTok account, which has since been deleted, after being asked by another user whether he supported the LGBT community.
In a statement, MTK Global condemned Hawley’s comments and confirmed that he had been released by the company. “The management team have made the decision to terminate Mr Hawley’s contract with MTK Global with immediate effect and will no longer be representing him in any format” read the statement.
This Article First Appeared On The Telegraph