WBO Middleweight Champion Billy Joe Saunders’ (24-0, 12 KOs) title defense against Georgia’s Avtandil Khurtsidze (33-2-2, 22 KOs) has been postponed due to Khurtsidze being indicted on numerous charges related to Georgian and Russian organized crime. The World title bout was scheduled for July 8 at London’s Copper Box Arena.
In a statement, acting Manhattan US Attorney Joon H Kim said: “We have charged 33 members and associates of a Russian organised crime syndicate allegedly engaging a panoply of crimes around the country.
“The indictments include charges against the alleged head of this national criminal enterprise, one of the first federal racketeering charges ever brought against a Russian ‘vor’ (which refers to “an order of elite criminals from the former Soviet Union who receive tribute from other criminals”).
“The dizzying array of criminal schemes committed by this organized 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. “Thanks to the remarkable inter-agency partnership of FBI, CBP, and NYPD, we have charged and arrested 33 defendants allegedly involved in this criminal enterprise.”
Khurtsidze is coming off a KO win over Tommy Langford last April in Leicester.
It will interesting to see if Billy Joe Saunders can find a replacement, as the the bout is exactly a month away.
As for Khurtsidze, one of the top contenders in the Middleweight division, it’s anybody guess where his career goes from here.
