Andy Lee vs Billy Joe Saunders postponed for a second time

Andy Lee's WBO world middleweight title defence against Billy Joe Saunders has been postponed for a second time.

The fight had already been rescheduled from September 19 in Limerick to October 10 in Manchester - but is now off again after Saunders was injured in training.

Lee (34-2-1-KO24) picked up a virus last month that disrupted his preparation but this time a cut sustained in sparring by the unbeaten challenger Saunders (22-0-KO12) is the reason for the delay.

Promoter Frank Warren said: "Unfortunately Billy Joe Saunders suffered a cut in training and his fight against Andy Lee will be postponed until late November and we'll be making an announcement about it later."

The show will still be going ahead and it's a great show with two world title fights and we are working on another world title fight to go on the bill.

In a later statement on social media, Warren added: "Unfortunately Billy Joe Saunders has received a bad cut in sparring and will not be ready for Oct 10 for his World title fight with Andy Lee.

"We apologise for this change, but it is completely unavoidable.The cut means BJS [sic] has to await specialist advice on when he can resume training.

"The Oct 10 show will still go ahead with the two world title fights and we are working hard to replace the fight with another major fight. Anyone wishing to get a refund and not attend the still stacked card on Oct 10 can get one from their original point of purchase.

"Apologies to the fans for the inconvenience, Oct 10 will still be a massive show. And we'll announce a new date for Lee v Saunders very soon."

Still on the card at the Manchester Arena local boy Terry Flanagan (28-0-KO11) makes the first defence of the WBO world lightweight title against America's Diego Magdaleno (28-1-KO12) and Liam Smith (20-0-1-KO10) faces John Thompson (17-1-KO6) for the vacant WBO world light-middleweight belt.