Billy Joe Saunders Nigel Benn and Chris Eubank in 1990. Saunders went on to defeat Eubank via split decision; two judges had scores of 115–114 and 115–113 for Saunders, with the third judge scoring 116–113 for Eubank. Having secured his third defence of the British middleweight title, Saunders earned the Lonsdale Belt outright; he gave this to his father Tommy as a Christmas present. With the win over Eubank, Saunders was in line for an opportunity to fight WBO world middleweight champion Andy Lee. In February 2015, Saunders and Warren accepted a 'step-aside' financial offer from promoter Lou DiBella in order for Lee
Chris Eubank Jr. (12-3, 4 KOs) was his opponent. Eubank dropped Horváth four times, stopping him in round 6. This was Eubank's eighth straight stoppage win. On the Saunders vs. Blandamura undercard on 26 July at the Phones 4u Arena in Manchester, Eubank stopped Croatian journeyman Ivan Jukic (19-2, 12 KOs) after just 2 minutes and 40 seconds of the opening round. On 15 September 2014, Frank Warren announced that Eubank would challenge fellow unbeaten British rival Billy Joe Saunders for his British, Commonwealth and European titles on the undercard of Tyson Fury vs. Dereck Chisora II on 9 November at the ExCeL