Billy Joe Saunders vs Martin Murray- Live coverage and results ahead of tonight's WBO super middleweight title clash

Follow our live coverage of tonight's action headlined by Billy Joe Saunders vs Martin Murray at the Wembley Arena

WBO Super-Middleweight World Champion Billy Joe Saunders and challenger Martin Murray clash on this Friday's main event at The SSE Arena, Wembley, shown live on Sky Sports and DAZN.

In an interesting contest between two long-time rivals, there is likely to be fireworks on Friday night as the two top a superb night of action and we see the return to the ring of 'superb'.

Follow our live coverage and result from tonight's action below:

Main Event

12 x 3 mins WBO Super-Middleweight World Title
BILLY JOE SAUNDERS 11st 13lbs 5oz v MARTIN MURRAY 11st 13lbs 6lbs
(Hatfield, England)                                   (St Helens, England)

A good even start from both fighters with Saunders taking the centre of the ring and trying to try and work away any ring-rust after an extended period out of the ring. Both fighters boxing within themselves in the early stage as they try to feel each other's early tempos. The Hatfield fighter looked to use his leading southpaw jab to mark his control early on.

Saunders continued to look tentative in the early stages trying to stop Murray working the body and moving well to try and take Murray away from any close exchanges in the second round.

The southpaw tried to go through the gears in the third as he tried to tune up his own weapons against a defensive retreating Martin Murray who seemed happy to stay on the back foot and come in close on the odd occasion to try and stay with the early tempo. Some better work from Saunders as he lands a sweet left uppercut in the second minute of the round as he tries to establish some more convincing control of the round. A good round overall for Saunders who appeared to begin to find his range with some leading shots fired under the inside.

Saunders moved well in the early stages of the fourth with Murray using a swift early jab to try and negate the work of Saunders from the stages of the third round. A crunching one-two from Saunders shook Murray and then a slip from Murray to the canvas was not called by the referee despite taking some hard straight shots from Saunders in the fourth who arguably had his best round using some power and landing some more shots within the Murray radar. 

Immediately taking the centre of the ring in the fifth round, Saunders appeared to open up with more confidence and accuracy working the body well in the opening minute of the fifth but Murray continued to try and jab off of the ropes and keep Saunders at arms length despite his recent dominance in the previous two rounds. The pace seemed to be controlled by Saunders with Murray continuing to move well despite the rhythm and fluidity of Saunders progressing well. Saunders landed another good combination on the final claxon to once again end a good round for the southpaw.

The sixth was more scrappy in the exchanges with clinches at the early parts of the round, but Murray continued to only be able to land single shots with the leading right conuter against Saunders who continued to try and control the exchanges and move around the jab of Murray who continued to struggle to find his range when he gained any central closing positions on Saunders.

A good start to the eighth from Saunders who tried to seize the initiative early on feinting away from any range that Murray briefly can gain, although several slight head clashes and scrappy clinches appeared to take hold as the St Helen's challenger appeared to get frustrated.

Murray appeared to try and create some more momentum in his favour in the eighth as he worked the body, soaking up some shots during his attempts as he also took a neat uppercut from Saunders in the late stages and continued to try and get his own jab back in range.

Saunders continued to use his experience and neat movement to continue to find the gaps as Murray continued to come forward and try to fire back in glimpses as he continued to attempt to try and gain any kind of foothold in a relatively one-way contest throughout. Another good round from Saunders who siezed the intiative using the leading right hand and feints to keep Murray away from any real landed shots of his own.

The fighters continued to exchange words during the scrappy parts of exchanges in round 10, with Saunder's good work omnipresent once again despite Murray's toughness and solid guard continuing to match Saunder's power and movement. Another landed right uppercut from Saunders was the highlight of yet another controlling round from the super middleweight world champion.

Combinations continued to land for Saunders who looked more and more comfortable and fluid with his movement, and seemed to begin to be content with seeing the fight out, but Saunders tried to up the tempo in the later stages of the eleventh, where he has had great previous joy but was unable to land any real power punches but maintained his control.

A championship round appeared to be another closing winning round for Saunders, who maintained his focus and conditioning until the final bell, despite Murray sticking with the southpaw and continuing to survive.

Billy Joe Saunders defeated Martin Murray by unanimous decision to retain his WBO super middleweight title. The scorecards were at 120-109, 120-109, 118-110.

 

19:00 LIVE ON SKY SPORTS

8 x 3 mins International Super-Middleweight contest
LERRONE RICHARDS 12st 4lbs 0oz v TIMO LAINE 12st 3lbs 10oz
(New Malden, England)                          (Helsinki, Finland)

The European and Commonwealth super middleweight champion started well taking the centre of the ring and using his lead hand to maintain the distance in the opening round.

Richards continued to box well and using a solid straight left hand jab to keep control, and in the latter stages towards the final bell Richards landed a swift combination driving Laine further onto the ropes.

He continued to pepper away at the quivering defence of Laine dropping down to the body and then coming back up to land swift combinations starting with the left hand through the guard.

Laine continued to reluctant to throw any counter shots in the fifth as he continued to maintain a safe guard and try to survive and tuck up to try and take the contest to the final bell. 

A slow round in the seventh as Richards seemed comfortable to let the fight take it's course as he continued his domination of the contest.

Richards stung Laine with a solid right hand that led to a big barrage of punches but was unable to take Laine out who continued to tuck in and survive and made it to the final bell despite taking punishment throughout the contest.

Lerrone Richards defeats Timo Laine by decision to go to 14-0 on his professional record.

Scorecard was at 80-72 by referee Bob Williams.

 

6 x 3 mins Featherweight Contest  
DONTE DIXON 9st 1lb 10oz v ANGELO DRAGONE 9st 1lb 14oz
(Sheffield, England)                (Carmarthen, Wales)

A great even start to the contest with both fighters having some success in the early exchanges with Dragone refusing to be moved by the early body work from Dixon who tried to settle in and work his way to the inside from the sides of the ring.

Dixon started the second well with a good right hand before going back to the body and trying to counter the early pressure and tempo that Dragone was trying to apply in the opening stanzas of the contest. However the English fighter seemed to produce th more quality shots despite Dragone trying to come in and take the centre of the ring, using elegant counter shots and body work to establish his own foothold on the fight.

Dragone continued to try and apply the pressure and cut off the ring for Dixon, suceeding in walking him down and taking him to the corners on the ropes while Dixon continued to box himself out of the corners and use body work and a solid jab to find gaps as he comes forward with his good work rate. A real test was beginning to emerge for the young Dixon who had not come up against a fighter with work rate and good movement like Dragone who continued to have lots of success in the round.

The Welshman drew blood in the third with a couple of swift comibinations continuing to back up Dixon as both fighters let their hands fly in the late stages up to the bell.

Dragone continued the work rate in the fourth but Dixon continued to feint and be extremely evasive off the ropes, using his counter jab to chop down any potential assault and aggresive work from the Welshman. Dixon continued to try and use his movement and elegance to roll away from the pressure but Dragone continued to fire back landing a few good shots in the middle minute but starting to fatigue with the ferocious tempo.

A superb contest between the two, as Dixon looked to show his class and stop the fight landing a good seven or eight powerful shots, and more concerted pressure from the young fighter as he tried to make a statement in a real test for the featherweight

Donte Dixon takes the victory over Angelo Dragone in the six round featherweight contest with scorecard at 58-56 by referee Bob Williams.

8 x 2 mins International Bantamweight contest
SHANNON COURTENAY 8st 5lbs 14oz v DOROTA NOREK 8st 3lbs 14oz
(Watford, England)                                     (Poznan, Poland)

An incredible,aggressive start from Dorota Norek who came flying out of the blocks with some explosive left rights to try and come into Courtenay who looked under pressure from the offset, but the Briton boxed well off the ropes to try and withstand the early pressure. Some heavy exchanges but seemingly wild shots from Dorek started the contest well in the early patterns.

Another wildly agressive start from the Pole to Round 2 who came out swinging for Courtenay but the Briton used swift counter shots and superior boxing technique to land off the ropes and try and counter the pressure and aggression. 

Norek started more cautiously choosing not to try and smother Courtenay and try to stand on her back foot and box more consistently trying to land her looping lead left hand against a confident looking courtenay with the left hook of the British fighter seeming to be the most landed punch as she landed two sweet left shots during the third round.

Courtenay used her movement well to roll out of any Dorek aggression to try and plant her feet and take control of the contest after seemingly weathering the early storm from her opponent without taking any real damage.

Courtenay continued to land the more successful shots in the sixth round using a seemingly technical superiority and faster movement to evade any incoming shots.

The seventh provided a knockdown for Shannon Courtenay who got the stoppage against Norek with a tremendous timing of her right hook shot to send the Polish fighter crashing to the canvas via the ropes and the referee stopped the fight as she seemed clearly stunned and out on her feet to hand the stoppage to the Watford fighter.

Shannon Courtenay wins via an stoppage in the seventh round to bounce back from defeat to Rachel Ball.

12 x 3 mins WBA Lightweight World Title Eliminator
JAMES TENNYSON 9st 8lbs 13oz v JOSH O'REILLY 9st 8lbs 5oz
(Belfast, Northern Ireland)                (Hamilton, Canada)

The hard hitting Northern Irishman started from the centre of the ring scoring an explosive early knockdown with a barrage of early punches who showed his noticeable power and speed from the offset with O'Reilly appearing to struggle greatly from the heavy opening shots. Another explosive left hand from Tennyson scored another knockdown but O'Reilly got up and tried fighting on.

However Tennyson continued to fire away and the referee was forced to stop the contest in the opening round.

James Tennyson defeats Josh O'Reilly to force an early stoppage in the WBA lightweight eliminator in the opening round in a statement performance.