I really don't think they could have been. I was in the arena on the night - shambles by the way - and had Saunders winning all the early rounds. Watched it back a few days later and again had Saunders taking the early rounds.
Saunders was making Eubank look crude and completely unskilled for the first half of the fight until he tired and Eubanks size cam in to play a bit. There is no doubt that he won all of the early rounds clearly. BJS won. Eubank is going no where.
Lucky BJS had his personal ref to stop Jr from punching him while he was out on his feet, and allow him to do as much holding as possible, he should have had at least 1 point taken off for his Wlad impression. With a fair ref I think Eubank would have stopped him, saying that I still scored it 115-114 Eubank...
Easy fight to score to be honest. First 5 rounds were all Billy Joe Saunders. None of the other rounds were clean in Eubank Jr's favour. So it's hard to score more than four rounds to him.
Hard, but not impossible, eh? I still haven't sat and watched the fight, but it seems to me like knowledgeable people are disagreeing about the outcome. That makes it very close and therefore a matter of taste. Boxing has never been good at consistently judging when taste and preference are a factor. A shame, but a fact. Personally, I don't like judging because it's so subjective. I would prefer to keep fighting until someone is stopped. I know it'll never happen because of tight schedules, but "last man standing" would definitely discourage those who don't train properly.
You can watch the fight and make your own opinion. I think any sane rational person would give the first 5 rounds to Billy Joe Saunders. Billy Joe was popping Eubank Jr with his jab enough after round 5 to pick up atleast 3 rounds afterwards. I knew it was gonna be a tough night for Eubank Jr after the first round. I said he's gonna lose the fight after that. BJS picked up the pace too quickly and Eubank couldn't handle it. None of the rounds you could give to Eubank Jr were clean scoring rounds in his favour. The first 5 rounds were clean scoring rounds for Billy Joe Saunders. And i went in thinking Eubank Jr might win but he simply could not handle the pressure early on due to lack of experience at that level.
When was BJS out on his feet? Eubank rocked him a couple of times in the later rounds but I wouldn't say he was out on his feet. BJS also rocked Eubank a couple of times as well.
Saunders was the one initiating the vast majority of the holding, and Eubank was working within the clinch, which he was more than entitled to do. Boxing has become so watered down that people are incapable of recognising legitimate inside fighting, so some of these scorecards in Saunders favour aren't really surprising.
I agree it was legitimate inside work. Saunders still won very easily. Eubank and his team knew after the fight. The judge who scored it for Chris is a prize *****.
The only reason the fight was close is because of BJS being a natural 154 fighter than a middleweight... Eubank's size took over. If BJS dieted properly, he would be a world class 154 fighter with only Lara beating him IMO.