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WBO super-middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders had his boxing license suspended after releasing a quarantine video on how to assault women, perhaps forgetting that fellow pugilist Gervonta Davis beat him to the punch — literally — back in February.
“We have suspended his boxer’s license pending a hearing under the board’s misconduct regulation, at a time and venue to be confirmed as soon as possible,” British Boxing Board of Control wrote in a statement on Monday.
Watch the controversial video here.
“I can only take it back and apologize,” Saunders told Talksport. “I will be donating £25,000 to support the domestic violence charity. It was a silly thing to do … it wasn’t meant to be suggesting ‘go and hit your wife and your loved ones.’ I am getting a lot of hate mail wishing me dead, wishing my family and my kids dead.”
Saunders has since deleted his Twitter account.
The British southpaw is no stranger to controversy, having already been hit with a hefty misconduct fine back in 2018 for an online video that featured Saunders offering crack to a drug-addicted woman in exchange for sexual favors, another one of his “jokes.”
Saunders was previously in talks to fight Saul “Canelo” Alvarez on May 2 in Las Vegas, Nevada, but the coronavirus quarantine grounded both combatants and put “Sin City” on lockdown until further notice.