Stranger than fiction
Sometimes you just cannot make it up. I hope Billy Joe Saunders was sitting down when he heard the news that Avtandil Khurtsidze, the challenger for his WBO middleweight title had pulled out of the fight. Having an opponent pull out of a fight is by no means unusual, however the reason was bizarre.
Organised crime
According to reports, Khurtsidze has been arrested for alleged involvement in organised crime. Manhattan US Attorney Joon H Kim said:
"The dizzying array of criminal schemes committed by this organised crime syndicate allegedly include a murder-for-hire conspiracy, a plot to rob victims by seducing and drugging them with chloroform, the theft of cargo shipments containing over 10,000 pounds of chocolate, and a fraud on casino slot machines using electronic hacking devices."
Mad Monikers
The irony is Khurtsidze has not just one nickname but a list of monikers, that read like the cast from a b-movie gangster flick,
- “suicide”
- “brooklyn boy”
- “the black man”
- “the white Mike Tyson”
- "the Kickboxer"
Puffed Up Danny
During the build up to the fight Saunders taunted that he was fighting a ‘puffed up Danny Devito’ (due to Khurtsidze’s diminutive stature). Which, with hindsight, seems fitting as Khurtsidze’s story has all the hallmarks of a hollywood blockbuster!
Second thoughts...
One thing is for sure Billy Joe will have second thoughts about taunting Khurtsidze again. Forget getting an ear bitten off, it seems that Saunders could find himself swimming with fishes with lead boots on, if he gets on the wrong side of this “mini Mike Tyson”!
Looks like Saunders dodged the proverbial bullet when he tried attacking Khurtsidze at a pre-fight press conference. Stick to hugging it out with this one, Billy!
