Billy Joe Saunders. This isn’t a kick him while he’s down thread, if anything it’s a compliment because he’s got ability. It’s a strange one really, he’s a 2 weight world champion but you can’t help but feel he’s wasted so much. He’s got an abundance of natural talent but just never seemed to live the life out of the ring. He should never have been struggling at middleweight. He’s not a super middle. He’s been so poor since he moved up but then you seen in the 5th round what he may have been capable of with the right lifestyle and conditioning. I worry for Billy now. I think if a long time out the ring is enforced he could end up doing a Tyson Fury post Klitschko. We’ve already seen him blow up to light heavy before, god knows where he ends up this time.
He was crying in the ring, the man is broken mentally. Time to call it a day for him I think. He has some talent, you don't get sent to the Olympics if you can't box. I feel he chased belts against weaker champions rather than focusing on him being his best. Last night many will feel he is a fraud. Hopefully his family are around him keeping his spirits up.
His stock was high after the Lemiuex masterclass and he became known outside UK but he didn't build on it. Preceded to become a slob and avoid big fight after big fight, in addition to saying and doing idiotic things which got him in bother. Only himself to blame for not achieving more. I'm not having him as a 2 weight champion, he beat an absolute nobody to win that super-middle belt in a tinpot UK football ground, it was embarrassing. He should have been fighting the likes of Canelo and GGG 3 years ago, but he always priced himself out of contention.
Yeah Beijing 2008 Olympics I always thought he would go on to be the best. He's not a super middle like you say, not lived the life properly for a professional. Great mover but you have to be super fit to do it over 12 rounds which he is not. Could have achieved so much more Billy.
Billy Joe has had a terrific career. Could he have achieved more ? 100%. But lot of talented fighters achieve much less than him. He certainly isnt a fruad.
I think retirement and becoming a trainer would be a good option for him to keep him on the right track mentally. If he doesn't retire maybe he could try to get a match with Andrade and a rematch with Canelo.
No shame in losing to Canelo last night. Billy Joe actually did relatively well, he wasn't out of his depth like Callum Smith and on my scorecard, he was only down by 1 round after 7. Never seen Canelo miss so wildly with his punches. Who knows what would have happened if that punch didn't cause an injury. I suspect Canelo probably would have turned the heat on and won a comfortable decision, but you never know! Billy Joe should take the Eubank Jr fight, that's a good pay day and a relatively easy fight for him.
Saunders probably should have applied himself a bit better in his career and should definitely have been more sensible with his behaviour out of the ring. But he’s a two time world champion and has made good money from boxing. Buncey mentioned on the radio after the fight just how set he is after boxing through his investments. I hope he can recover and box again though.
Bjs and Brook really annoys me that they both won a world title and then defended it against bums. Really badly managed imo
He's done pretty damn well for himself I think. In the amateurs it was all about frankie Gavin and David Price. Billy Joe has improved immensely over the last few years and became a world champion, which is huge. Not only did he become a world champion, but was and is regarded as one of the best in his division. His only loss has come to the p4p best boxer in the world in Canelo, which to be honest theres no one in the division I think can beat him. Well done Billy Joe you've done well for yourself.
He had the Luxury of switching Divisions and used it to his advantage. Out of the Mayweather playbook that one.
Think he pretty much maximised his talent if anything. He was always going to lose to the canelo,s and golovkins etc hence why he stayed away for so long. These guys would be fighting guys like that earlier if they had a real shot of winning. Theres a reason andy lee and lemiuex is about the best you,ll find on his resume. Good fighter billy joe but people spend years watching his style work against a certain level of opponent and then start believing it,ll work against the higher level...when it rarely does. I think people are wrong about billy not putting it in in training. Going up in weights just his body naturally growing...it happens to most of them...in fairness hes not a 168 fighter but would be surprised if he could still function well at 160.
Definitely a wasted talent. That's not a judgement from last night where he actually prepared and gave it his all. He's wasted too many years being inactive which was then used to justify the terrible 'tune up' fights he then needed as a result. Didn't live the life at all. I'll add to that and say that Eubank Junior has also wasted his opportunities too despite living the life out the ring. Long spells of inactivity and garbage opponents when he should have been building on his decent wins. His ego with not having a proper trainer for years also affected him. Whilst vastly different personalities, the similarities are there to see...both have done more talking and posturing than fighting.
I don't like kicking a man when he's down however I believe in karma. I believe that if you bully, taunt and mock people less able than you, less well off than you, without facing any consequences, you will get yours one day and for Billy, it was last night. He might have got beat by Canelo regardless of if he was a jerk or not but now he has been beat, people will be shoving his past behaviour back down his throat instead of actually saying hard luck mate you'll come back. No one gives a monkeys about him now especially after the defeat and no one likes a sht human being. Period.