Billy Joe Saunders will headline Matchroom's fourth big show at the SSE Arena on Friday, Dec. 4 when he defends the WBO super-middleweight title against Martin Murray.
The card will air live on Sky Sports in the U.K. and on DAZN in all of its nine markets including the U.S. Details on an undercard will be announced in due course.
Saunders (29-0, 14 KOs) has been champion since May 2019 when he decisively bested Serbia's Shefat Isufi on the judges' scorecards to become a two-weight titleholder. This will be his second defence of the title.
The unbeaten champ is keen to get back in the ring after missing out on a megafight with Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez thanks to COVID-19, while Murray is an opponent that very nearly opposed Saunders in 2018 only for the bout to fall through.
"I am very happy to be defending my WBO title again," said Saunders. "I haven’t boxed for a year and I really do miss being in the ring. I can’t wait to have my 30th professional fight and finish the year with a bang before a big 2021.
"The coronavirus pandemic has affected everybody in many ways, and it has had a big impact on the sport of boxing. The Canelo Alvarez fight falling through was very frustrating for me but now the journey continues in December.
"Martin and I were supposed to fight twice before but it didn’t happen either time. He said some stuff and so did I, so let’s see who can back it up. I’m enjoying training with Mark Tibbs. He's incredibly knowledgeable in the sport of boxing and we are working on new stuff that we will show on the night."
Murray (39-5-1, 17 KOs) has a host of big fight experience, but defeats to Sergio 'Maravilla' Martinez, Gennadiy 'Triple G' Golovkin and Arthur Abraham ensured that big world championship crowning moment always eluded the St Helens man.
At the age of 38, this could be Murray's last chance to claim world honours.
"I'm really looking forward to getting back in there and fighting for another World Title," said Murray. "The big fights definitely bring out the best in me. This year has been a good year for me personally. It seemed like all the stresses of life were taken away so I really enjoyed being able to relax a bit more and spend even more time with my family.
"There was no bad blood really between me and Billy to be honest, it was just a lot of frustration after he pulled out twice. That got left where it was, but we've definitely got some unfinished business. I'm expecting a hard fight and Billy Joe to be at his best, so I'll be ready."
Matchroom had recently announced that they would host four fight nights at the SSE in Wembley as part of a residency deal, and Saunders-Murray will headline the final show of that run after Oleksandr Usyk vs. Dereck Chisora on Oct. 31, Katie Taylor vs. Miriam Gutierrez on Nov. 14 and Dillian Whyte vs. Alexander Povetkin on Nov. 21.
“I’m delighted to announce another big fight for the 2020 schedule as we close out this tough year with a huge bang," said promoter Eddie Hearn.
"All-British world title fights are always special, especially in the super-middleweight division, and I’m really excited to see Billy back in the ring.
"We were 24 hours away from an announcement for Billy to fight Canelo when the pandemic hit and so it throws up the final roll of the dice for Martin Murray who will give it everything on December 4."