The curious case of Billy Joe Saunders continues on Friday night when he defends his WBO Super Middleweight title against Martin Murray at the Wembley Arena, live on Sky Sports.

Despite a record of 29-0 and being a two-weight world champion, we still don't really know just how good the outspoken champion really is as the big career-defining fights continue to elude him.

That was all meant to change in 2020 as he signed a lucrative deal with Matchroom on the back of stepping up to become a two-weight world champion, but this year sums up his career to date. With the golden ticket of a fight with Mexican star Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez all but signed for May, Covid hit and the megafight (and mega pay cheque) went up in smoke.

He now has his only outing of the year against a man he was originally due to fight in 2018 when it was a more appealing proposition to the fans and it has the feel of yet another 'marking time' fight.

If Saunders has yet to really fulfil his potential, Murray has certainly exceeded expectations in a career of humble beginnings and can count himself extremely unlucky not to have won a world title.

The likeable St Helens man has had four attempts at world glory and came closest in is first try, when the victim of a controversial decision in Germany as he drew with Felix Sturm in 2011.

Many thought he deserved the nod on the cards when set the very tall order of facing the bang in-form Sergio Martinez in Buenos Aires two years later, before he put up a valiant effort when stopped by a peak Gennady Golovkin in the 11th round and then dropped a split decision to Arthur Abraham on his return to Germany.

Finally he gets a shot on home soil, but it comes at the end of his career as a 38-year-old and he has a huge task on his hands. It is therefore no surprise to see quotes of 12/1 about Murray and Saunders rated an overwhelming favourite at 1/20, odds which would have been slightly less wide had this happened when first planned.

A tough man, Murray (39-5-1) has never been an easy night's work for anyone and won't go down without a scrap in what could well be his swansong.

He always comes to fight and isn't known for taking a backwards step, so will make sure Saunders needs to be on his game and that has not always been the case in the latter's career. You never quite know which version of the Hatfield native is going to turn up and while some contributing factors to his inconsistent performances have been out of his hands, plenty have been his own doing too.