WBO WORLD MIDDLEWEIGHT champion Billy Joe Saunders has been fined £100,000 and given a severe reprimand by the British Boxing Board of Control following a misconduct hearing regarding his role in an online video that was described by police as “sickening”.
The 29-year-old fighter was filmed in his car offering a woman £150 worth of Class A drugs, firstly on the condition that she perform upon him a sex act, and then that she punch a passerby in the face.
When the woman in question hit a man on the street, Saunders and his passenger drove off.
Saunders tweeted an apology last Tuesday morning, admitting that he was “totally in the wrong” and describing the incident as a botched attempt at “banter”.
There is no evidence that the former British Olympian actually had drugs on his person, but Nottinghamshire Police confirmed last week that they would carry out a full investigation into the incident.
British professional boxing’s governing body, the BBBofC, today confirmed that Saunders is free to continue to box using their licence, but that the undefeated middleweight had brought the sport into disrepute and had been fined £100,000.
The sum will be donated to the organisation’s charity which assists British former boxers who are struggling in retirement.
“Billy Joe Saunders appeared before the Stewards of the British Boxing Board of Control today under a misconduct charge following his recent behaviour shown on social media,” a BBBofC statement read.
The Stewards have found Mr. Saunders guilty of bringing the sport of Boxing into disrepute and have fined him the sum of £100,000 and issued a severe reprimand as to his future conduct.
“All monies will go to the BBBofC charity to assist ex-boxers and ex- license holders who have fallen on hard times.”
Saunders defends his WBO world title against Demetrius Andrade at Boston’s TD Garden on 20 October, headlining a card which also features world title scraps for Irish duo Katie Taylor and James Tennyson.
Wexford’s Niall Kennedy is also on the bill in a heavyweight contest.
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