The young Hatfield fighter still holds a completely clean slate, with zero defeats granted him by his powerful southpaw skills and sturdy chin. Saunders, the great-grandson of one of the most famous bare-knuckle boxers of his region, boasts a great mix of tactical ability and pure, raw strength. Last December, Saunders won the WBO middleweight title with a majority decision against Andy Lee, who has been knocked down twice in the third round thanks to the Englishman’s superior strategy and endurance.
Although the 26-year-old champion plans to fight the brutal Gennady “GGG” Golovkin for the IBF and WBA titles, he’s now going to fight another dangerous opponent, the Ukrainian Maksym “Max” Bursak, as announced by RingTV.com. Saunders, who is rated No. 3 by THE RING at 160 pounds, knows he needs to impress his audience during this fight to convince the 160 division king Golovkin to fight in a unification bout. The younger English fighter knows how dangerous his opponent is, and he announced that he’s “definitely not taking Bursak for granted,” explaining that he must “come in at 100 percent” to defeat his opponent Bursak. He knows that this title defense may be a risky affair, but he still claims he’s going to give Bursak “the toughest night he’s ever had.”
“Mad Max” Bursak, on the other hand, didn’t seem to be intimidated by Saunders words, and after thanking him for the opportunity of winning the title, he asserted that “this is going to be his first and last defense.”
Bursak is a much more experienced fighter who has never been stopped, although he lost a couple of decisions against high-caliber boxers such as Martin Murray and Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam. The 31-year-old boxer from Kiev is a veteran with 37 fights behind his back, and he’s the former WBO Intercontinental, European, and WBA Continental Middleweight Champion.
Bursak’s raw power is probably inferior to his younger opponent’s one, but his relentless European style will surely put much pressure on Saunders. Bursak is an intelligent and versatile fighter with strong stamina and a solid build. His great ring awareness and superior experience will surely put the WBO champion’s skill to challenge, and although the Ukrainian boxer didn’t perform too well in last June’s fight against Zac “Dynamo” Dunn, he surely has plenty of weapons in his arsenal to defeat Saunders during the upcoming April 30, Saunders vs Bursak match.
