Potential Billy Joe Saunders vs. Callum Smith 168 Unification Match. How Does This Play Out?

Interesting that a lot of people are writing off Saunders.

Saunders is unpredictable, he fights to the level of his opponent and does tend to get comfortable and relax mid fight when its a bit easy for him. However you can't deny when Saunders is on fire, he's quite a special fighter to watch.

I would favour Saunders over smith but there are too many variables to make a one sided decision

 

On form Billy Joe is special, but Smith is so big at the weight and hes not wild when throwing, he thinks...Billy joe in a hard fight

 

This
This is the key to whoever he fights imo, he can beat all of them if hes sharp

 

6-ish I want to say. Is there a number for criteria I have not met otherwise my opinion is void?

You call when you feel someone or something is overreaction central. Billy Joe has been one of mine. He has never proven me wrong on a long term scale, I'll say that. And he has never proven his fanboys right on a long term scale, that is as certain.

 

Smith too big for BJS
SMITH UD

 

It depends if the Gypsy Slickness shows up or not, Smith is huge for SMW.

 

Saunders looked meh until the Lemieux fight where he looked amazing. Makes me wonder why even with two knockdowns vs Lee it was a close fight.

 

Although not a fan Saunders is very talented and a gifted boxer but for me the size difference will just be too much. Smith would be a decent sized 175er and BJS is simply a middleweight. Still an intriguing fight and would love to see but have my doubts because of warren/Hearn.

 

If Saunders turns up 100% motivated and not taking it lightly then I can see Saunders outboxing Smith for the vast majority of the fight and having a couple of worrying moments. Saunders utilises his slickness and boxing skill to negate the power and size of smith

 

It is pretty well documented that he signed to fight GGG once, maybe even twice. There has also been noise from Golden Boy that Canelo wants no part of Saunders and if he is teetering with the idea of Kovalev he clearly has no plans for Saunders at 160 . Andrade or Jacobs aren't exactly mouth watering contests are they. He has moved up to chase Smith (Ring Magazine champion) which in my opinion is a bigger ask for Saunders than GGG is at this stage in his career and Andrade - Jacobs who knows but he is moving up anyway.

 

I was okay with Billy Joe doing it against Lemieux, as he was putting a schooling on a dangerous puncher and making him look silly; but he did it against Isufi too. He should save stuff like that for the times he is schooling dangerous punchers or schooling people in 50-50 or near 50-50 fights.

 

In this case, size really does matter. Now Smith is a decent fighter - no doubt about that - but he's more of an efficient boxer than a talented one, and employs the same well-drilled combinations, movement and defense in all his fights. His counter left is stellar but that's one elite punch in an otherwise artisan skill-set. No, it's his huge weight, size and reach advantage on fight night which makes this basic recipe into a world beating SMW. How he comfortably makes 168.... God (santa) knows.

I think he'd fall off the cliff at 175 but this fight is at 168. And at 168 he beats the more talented but less freakishly physiqued Billy Joe...

 

Spot on. When Saunders tries to spin Smith like he does and work off controlling distance, it isn't as easy when you've got someone with such a reach advantage.