Billy Joe Saunders admits he misses boxing after previously contemplating retirement in aftermath of Canelo Alvarez defeat

Billy Joe Saunders has stated that he is currently missing boxing.

The former two-weight world champion suffered his first pro defeat to Canelo Alvarez back in May and has not been in the ring since.

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In the wake of this loss, Saunders told talkSPORT that he was considering retiring from the sport.

Saunders explained back in June: “At the end of the day, I’m 31 years old, if I don’t ever wanna work again, wanna sit back, wanna chill, I can do that.

“And so it should be, I’ve put a lot of time into boxing and I’ve paid my dues. The sport’s been very, very good to me…

“I’m 31, I haven’t took no punishment, I haven’t been battered from pillar to post, brain dead and can’t put a sentence together, so I need to sit back and look at my options.

“Because the options have to weigh up – the thought of me just coming in and fighting for a world rating or something, belts don’t feed the kids.

“Everything would have to stack up and [be] the right fight.

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“Because coming down from fights like that, it’s very hard, where do you go from there?

“I’ll have a chat with my dad because he’ll have a big say in it.

“To be fair it will be more or less down to my dad in the conversation more than me if I’m honest.

“It’s one of them where it’s 50/50. Whether I think, I will have one more or a couple more, but they’ve gotta be the right sort of fights.

“If he says, ‘Leave it son, don’t go back for more,’ then that’s probably what I’ll do.”

On Saturday night though, he gave an indication that his opinion has since changed.

While seemingly watching the Joseph Parker vs Derek Chisora 2 card, Saunders tweeted: "Miss the game."

If he does return in 2022, there are still many big fights for him to be involved in, including a rematch with old rival Chris Eubank Jr.