In my opinion. I know that there is a lot of threads on the matter but I have had enough of some of the negative stuff throughout social media. I say boxing stock because he needs to prove himself out of the ring, it’s never too late. Back to the fight, he’s never a SM for starters. Helps that while Canelo is strong he’s not exactly huge at 168. Anyway, I thought it looked bleak for BJS after the first 2 rounds. Canelo was getting past the jab into range, unloading to the body especially and I thought that BJS needed to win those rounds to have any chance. However BJS took his best shots, made the adjustments and started to win rounds himself. He showed a great chin, looked in decent shape and confused Canelo in spots. I knew it was going to be impossible over there to win on the cards (like it is in the UK!) so that was irrelevant to me. The fight changed on that one shot, it was over when it landed. Saunders to his credit knew something was wrong but got through the round, never off his feet. It was obvious it was an orbital, the dark spot under the eye immediately, which closed without swelling. There was no way it could go on, it wasn’t a quit job, it was the only option. Anyone who says anything different doesn’t have a clue, with all due respect. I was impressed by how good Saunders was. We seen bigger men like Smith not challenge Canelo at all. Saunders won rounds, boxed well but walked into one. It happens. Let’s not forget who he was in against, P4P #1 and a dangerous man. I think it’s a wasted career because I can only imagine what he could have achieved at 160 and maybe initially at 154, if he lived the life. But for me he can hold his head up proud. I think it was a great performance for the 8 rounds he was in there.
Zzz. He made allsorts of outlandish comments about his heart, dying in the ring etc. But he took a solid shot and quit. Compare that to what Manny did to Margaritos eye and how he carried on despite getting a beating... He quit. And I wouldn't be surprised if he retired.
Honestly he has to, he hasn't got the heart and his mind is broken now. The narrative being pushed that BJS put up more of a fight and tried to grab his dream with his hands more than Callum Smith. It's a joke, Callum went to the fight as soon as it was offered because even though it was short notice he dared to be great. BJS had everything set up in his favour.
True. Smith should be ashamed of his performance, but he never ran his mouth like Bill did. It will be the exact same situation with the eye, just like Brook. It WILL get hit, then what? And he won't face domestic rivals because he's had that mega payday, and they'd possibly beat him. Retire, because he's waited for this payday, so just call it a day.
Callum Smith didn’t have the ability or movement. He was a big target basically and took his licks. Seriously, saying BJS quit is moronic. Tibbs pulled him out, you can’t fight with a broken orbital either way. I don’t even like the bloke, some of his antics have been disgusting over the last 5 years. But you have to respect those 8 rounds.
Pretty sure plenty of boxers have fought on with a broken orbital bone. They also probably never stated that they'd die in the ring and then quit.
yeah because BJS is a d*ck. But he is a massively undersized middleweight who had a fight with the P4P best and got caught with a shot after 7.5 really close rounds. I’m sure Yildrim said he was going to win as well
People need to leave their hang ups at the door and review the fight as if BJS was anyone else. It’s like everyone has turned into Dan Rafael
so who is a bigger man? Canelo or Saunders. Not the point. If you can sleep easily saying that he quit the be my guest. But you are basically on the same side of the argument as BJS on Dubois.
I dont think it was a great performance tbh...if anything it showed billy joes style is slightly limited at the top level. He fought scared last night. Pretty understandable tbf because canelo does hit hard but there was absolutely nothing on billy joes shots. Was so scared to be hit back...he basically just tried to touch canelo. Thats allright at amatuer level but its slightly different at pro level. Even mayweather who liked to point score actually commited to his punches. Fury the same they have something on them. We knew that canelo can be outboxed....but billy mainly just tried to touch him before getting away. Its not effective aggresion especially when the opponents hitting you back hard. Fury and mayweather dominate with their boxing...billy joe didnt dominate anything last night. He needed something he never had and thats...something to stop canelo in his tracks. Doesnt have it and reckon thats the biggest indicator he,d have fallen short at the top level. That and three of his four biggest wins came by either majority decision, split decision or by a single point against eubsnk junior, andy lee and john ryder. Should have changed his style slightly years ago and learned to sit down on his shots. The tap and move will only get you so far at the top level imo. Think he was right to call it a day with the eye injury....no shame in that. Only problem with it being the things hes said prior regarding other fighters with similar injuries was stupid and dangerous. I dont mind billy joe good fighter and a lot of the problems hes brought on himself is down to a slight immaturity more than anything else. Should have done more at 160...think the problem was always the style tho...no one trying to go places attracting fans really wanted to go in with a style like that. Probably hindered his career. He,s always gonna struggle at 168 at this stage tho. Doesnt have the tank anymore to carry the extra weight.
I think this is fair enough tbh. Agree with a lot of it. I thought that Billy was better than this on the night. He’s not a massive puncher and he shouldn’t be at 168, you can see his body doesn’t want to be there. But he got Canelo’s attention a couple of times and he fought more aggressively after the second round because the tippy tappy stuff wasn’t working. He boxed Canelo‘a ears off in 5. Anyway I agree he hasn’t got a fan friendly style and I’m not sure he fights again. I mean where does he go now and no doubt he’ll be living like a pig for the next 6 months. So yeah it’s over imo, at top level anyway.
Indeed. It may be easy for an unbeaten fighter with (to put it politely) limited empathy to simply not understand what a severe injury does to you, especially when the chap that inflicted it is still in there with you. He'd earn a lot of credit with me (as if that matters) if he came out now and acknowledged that he was wrong to mock before and that having been there it's not quitting in that scenario. There are just a couple of problems though... Firstly he carried on and it was his corner that pulled him out and regardless of the fact that they were correct to do so and secondly I just don't think he's got the humility or the balls to even consider it. I expect he'd be more likely to take the psychologically easier way out by using the same line that Deonkey Wilder took that he didn't want his corner to pull him out and would've preferred to be KO'd (despite his corner having a far greater moral imperative for withdrawing him). Kudos to him for the performance, I scored him up until the withdrawal, but he'd have had to be pretty near perfect to last the distance and that was always unlikely... He remains completely unlikable and that's extremely unlikely to change - he'll probably retire, I wouldn't be at all surprised and wouldn't blame him either, he'd have a long road back to decent paydays with a clear weak spot for future opponents to target along the way and besides he's never getting belts back whilst Canelo stays in the division (and I don't think he's going up again).
There's different types of fractures. Against Donaire, Inoue suffered a fractured eye socket early on, said he was seeing double at times, he managed to see the fight out, box like a true Champ and get the win. Saunders couldn't see out of his eye. There's a big difference. Some absolute warriors on the internet today that must have climbed Everest in a day, fought a bear when they got to the top, ate it and then somersaulted to the ground where they took on an army with only their fighting instincts to call on, then made it home to call out all these pussies that choose to not carry on fighting when they can't see anything out of their eye.
