{"id":71031,"date":"2018-03-26T13:59:28","date_gmt":"2018-03-26T18:59:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/?p=71031"},"modified":"2018-03-26T14:01:03","modified_gmt":"2018-03-26T19:01:03","slug":"vinnys-views-billy-joe-saunders-vs-martin-murray-the-facts-the-stats-the-fight-prediction-is-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/?p=71031","title":{"rendered":"Vinny\u2019s Views: Billy Joe Saunders Vs Martin Murray \u2013 The Facts, The Stats & The Fight Prediction Is In!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>By Vinny \u201cGlory Days\u201d Lucci<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s being billed as the \u201cBattle for Britain,\u201d but think of it as last hurdle before a long overdue middleweight unification match later this fall. The combatants on far side of the pond are Billy Joe Saunders defending his WBO middleweight strap against former contender Martin Murray. If multi belted title holder and universally recognized champ Gennady Golovkin takes care of business on his end in Vegas this May against nemesis Canelo Alvarez the public\u2019s demand to crown one champion will be overwhelming. Naturally Canelo Alvarez has other plans and not to \u201cbury the lead,\u201d that\u2019s all she wrote. <\/p>\n

The Event:<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Frank Warren of Box Nation will be promoting this WBO middleweight title fight on June 23, (originally scheduled for April 14 and postponed due to a training hand injury by Saunders.) at O2 Arena, London, England. The featured undercard hosting undefeated WBO lightweight champion Terry Flanagan, 33-0, 13 KO\u2019s moving north five pounds to challenge Maurice Hooker, 23-0-3, 16 KO\u2019s for vacant WBO junior welterweight title will seek a new venue and date. Both title bouts to be hosted by BT SPORT possibly under the radar of casual fans.<\/p>\n

Stats:<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Saunders stands 5\u201911\u201d with a 71\u201d reach. The British southpaw owns a clean ledger of 26-0, 12 KO\u2019s resume. He will be making the fourth defense of belt he won from Andy Lee back in December 2015. At 28 years old Billy is firmly in his prime right now having finally removed all ring rust of 2016 and horrible showing against Artur Akavov.<\/p>\n

Murray is an orthodox fighter who stands an even six feet tall with a 73\u201d wingspan. The British boxer owns a seasoned record of 36-4-1, 17 KO\u2019s. While acquiring several silver and intercontinental titles, this will be his fifth world title shot. Regardless, at 35 he always enters ring in pristine condition and prepared to fight hard bell to bell.<\/p>\n

Last Fight:<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Saunders removed all doubt and ring rust by turning back the formidable challenge of Canada\u2019s David Lemieux last December by unanimous decision in Canada. Billy Joe pitched a near shut out by controlling ring with movement behind a steady jab. The aggressive power punching challenger was held to landing only 67 punches throughout the 12 round bout. The champion wisely avoided the devils playpen and spending anytime inside the pocket or against the ropes where Lemieux shines.<\/p>\n

Martin Murray last fought in September in Liverpool England knocking out one Arman Torosyan in the fourth round of an eight round contest. Having already been given a handful of title shots it\u2019s fair to say he\u2019s quite lucky to gain one last chance coming off an eight rounder.<\/p>\n

Styles:<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Saunders is a southpaw boxer who fights \u201crangy\u201d using entire ring. He owns the rare commodity of being able to fight with balance when forced to move backwards. Billy Joe boxes flat footed yet he owns very nimble footwork and on his best nights exhibits a complete array of punches in his arsenal. His defense is predicated around his speed and his offense is built around punching in combination rather than having any bread and butter weapon.<\/p>\n

Murray is a solid performer who commits to every punch. He owns a reliable chin and boxes behind a stiff jab. Martin is also flat footed and usually attacks in a straight line with excellent balance. His \u201cMO\u201d is a repeated calling card of 3 hard jabs followed by a left hook to liver or ribs followed by right cross. If he catches your attention the next volley is likely to be a single jab range finder while he doubles up on left hook with bad intentions, his best combination before shooting a straight right hand. While his rhythm and combinations are predictable he has remained a formidable opponent because of his commitment to his work ethic in and out of the ring.<\/p>\n

What to look for fight night:<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Martin will come forward and make a fight of it trying to cut off ring and use angles to best of his ability to halt the circular saw in front of him. His experience factors well for this fight but he\u2019s clearly passed his peak. It\u2019s doubtful he pulls a rabbit out of his hat on this last go round. His ledger shows us against fighters like Sergio Martinez, Arthur Abraham, George Groves and Gennady Golovkin that he is on top of a tier just below them. Against such a fleet footed fighter it\u2019s unlikely he\u2019ll be able to land his best, the double left hook. This looks to be a distance bout for two reasons. For all his bragging, Saunders is not a knockout puncher and Martin has a solid if not great chin. While Billy Joe was first to expose Chris Eubank, JR. he failed to stop him and ran out of gas in final round. While totally outclassing Willie Monroe, JR. and David Lemieux in his most recent outings, he elected not to go for the knockouts.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The Vinny Factor:<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

At 28 Saunders has arrived and is not only rededicated but at his peak. Trainer Dominic Ingle has brought him back from deep freeze with recent bouts and removed the ring rust. This will be another chance to look good against third straight former Golovkin victim. He won\u2019t disappoint. Saunders has settled into a mode where \u201ca win is a win,\u201d and he won\u2019t take foolish or educated chances with anyone. Because of it his fan base may be limited but his bank account continues to grow.<\/p>\n

Odds: <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Vegas has set the line at Saunders -3000, \/ Murray at +1100<\/p>\n

Prediction:<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Billy Joe Saunders by Unanimous Decision.<\/p>\n

Stay tuned\u2026<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

[si-contact-form form=’2′]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Vinny \u201cGlory Days\u201d Lucci It\u2019s being billed as the \u201cBattle for Britain,\u201d but think of it as last hurdle before a long overdue middleweight unification match later this fall. The combatants on far side of the pond are Billy Joe Saunders defending his WBO middleweight strap against former contender Martin Murray. If multi belted […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[17871,17870],"class_list":["post-71031","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-boxing-news","tag-the-stats-the-fight-prediction-is-in","tag-vinnys-views-billy-joe-saunders-vs-martin-murray-the-facts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71031","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=71031"}],"version-history":[{"count":-2,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71031\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=71031"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=71031"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=71031"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}