A Closer Look at the Problematic Billy Joe Saunders

By Donald “Braveheart” Stewart

Tomorrow night the focus of the world shall be on the Ring Magazine, lineal and WBA/ IBF and WBC middleweight fight between Saul Canelo Alvarez, 49-1-1, 34 KO’s, and Gennady “GGG” Golovkin, 37-0, 33 KO’s. Keen observers of boxing shall notice that there is one belt missing from that line up – the WBO belt.

On the same night the WBO champion, Billy Joe Saunders, 24-0, 12 KO’s, shall be in London at the Copper Box Arena to defend it against Willie Monroe, JR., 21-2, 6 KO’s.

Billy Joe, Bill or Billy will be looking to show he has the skills to get in the ring with the winner of the other fight by beating Monroe, JR. in a way that shall catch the eye and take him into the stratosphere. A fight between the winner of both these middleweight contests, it will be suggested in the UK at least, is needed to settle who is the best middleweight in the world.

I think it won’t happen and here is why.

Billy Joe Saunders does not speak for his community but between him and Tyson Fury they have put travellers on the map, if you pardon the pun, for some of the wrong reasons. This week Saunders used homophobic slurs to make his point. It does not help his cause.

When you see the trajectory of Adrien Broner, you reckon that such activity should be looked down upon and the British Boxing Board of Control shall do precisely that, I am sure, once Saturday is out the way. Whilst Saunders has not accrued the police attention of Broner, his antics and mouth have certainly given other cause to see him as trouble.

It was his mouth at the gym where they clashed, in London, has done the usual social media rounds to cause comment amongst the casual observers. Those of us more interested in his prowess as a fighter have noticed the change in Saunders of late. It is Saunders’ physique that has caught the attention of the mainstream boxing press; Saunders looks ripped.

His last fight was so poor that people questioned his heart and his approach. Even Saunders himself asked if he had the stomach for it all but he did and he does.

After getting lambasted for his performance in his last defense he went on trial at Dominic Ingle’s gym; The gym dispelled the lifestyle he had been enjoying of yo yo ing and being “the lad”. He is now living with another boxer – Kid Galahad – and Ingle has made demands of him and Saunders knows he needs to pay attention.

Ingles identified BOTH his training and his diet as the faults that led to such an unsporting condition. Bluntly he avoids placing any blame on the previous trainers but puts it squarely on Saunders’ shoulders.

With those things right, the question may become, if an unfit Saunders can win and defend the world title, what can a fit and able one do?

His last defense, a bizarre evening in Paisley, Scotland, was awful. It was the culmination of a period of time that was not his best. When Dominic Ingle saw him at first, he saw a “fat and unfit” fighter who was so far away from a contest that he has not been in the ring since that night in Paisley last December.
Saunders has never looked completely impressive in his world title fights with his win against Artur Akavov, in Scotland, a particularly painful watch
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He will be expected to make his fists do the talking come Saturday night and nothing less than a highly impressive showing is going to get him on either Golovkin or Alvarez’s radar. They both think Saunders has too much to say, and too little to do.

Over the years, Saunders’ behaviour along with a little bit of bad luck have clearly held him back.

His first defense of his WBO title, was scheduled in April 2016 against Max Bursak, but Saunders hurt his hand in training. Then he got the chance to fight on an Alvarez undercard, when Alvarez fought Liam Smith, but Saunders, apparently rejecting all the possible opponents so the fight was pulled. Earlier this year a fight with Golovkin was in place, Saunders having signed the contract and insulted the other fighter on social media. Golovkin’s hand, this time was allegedly injured so the fight never took place. His defence against the Georgian Avtandil Khurtsidze in May of this year was stopped because the Georgian ended up arrested and imprisoned. Saunders was well ready for that fight and had even begun the preliminaries in press conferences!

If Saunders wants the fight and even Golovkin has spoken of uniting the belts, what about the other two?

Since declaring that he would like ALL the belts, “GGG” has spoken of his desire to make his fight with Alvarez the first of a trilogy. Where would Saunders fare in amongst that? It would not be as a headline act for either of them but as a warm up with most expecting Saunders to lose to either one of them. It would, should Saunders retain his WBO title, bring the last piece of the jigsaw into the ring and allow the two best middleweights in the world to prove, once and for all, that they are the best.

Of course, Saunders could get a fight and win it. What then?

The other option for him would be to move up to super middleweight where James DeGale with the IBF belt is sitting outside of the World Super Series of Boxing and a fight at super middleweight in the UK would be huge.
Bigger than Canelo and Golovkin? Yes, for the British fans but not for the global market.

No matter what his promoter, Frank Warren says, if Saunders does not produce an impressive performance on Saturday, then there shall be no match up with the super two. Despite the belt being left out the stateside contest, there is little doubt that Saunders needs Canelo/Golovkin more than they need him.
Ironically, Warren’s broadcaster Box Nation will show BOTH world title fights Saturday through Sunday and we hope for two cracking contests.

In the UK, we shall be glued to the former Olympian and hope he repays the faith of both his trainer and his promoter. I think he shall, but a fight with either of the other two? Saunders clearly wants it and if he does not get it will call both cowards – and possibly worse. Would they avoid him? Well if his mouth is loud and wide enough one of them may take the fight to fill it – will it be the winner or the loser of the fight of the decade?

The loser? Now that may be a different story…

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