Billy Joe Saunders vs Iran Barkley primes

Billy never had blazing hand speed.

 

What's Saunders best win ? He never reached upper echelon levels he stayed beating B and C class level opponents and never rose above that.

His best win is Andy Lee that says it all.

I know for a fact Saunders couldn't beat Hearns let alone beat him twice.

Barkley was having to face Duran, Kalambay, Hearns, Toney, Benn, Nunn.

Not the likes of Eubank Jr, Murray, Lee.

 

David Lemieux was a very good win and shows what Billy was capable of.
Chris Eubank Jr. was a very good win against an unbeaten boxer with alot of hype.
Willie Monroe Jr was a very good win as well.
Andy Lee was a good win.
I like Iran more then Billy but keep it real- name me one boxer with the speed and was a southpaw that Iran beat.

 

Billy was an A class boxer who won a world title and was unbeaten for a long time.
He earned his shot at Canelo.
Like him or hate him Billy had world class skills and displayed them quite often.
As a person sure he leaves much to be desired but as a boxer he was super talented.

 

He was talented I agree and after his win over Lemiuex I was expecting to him to go to the next level and prove himself in big fights but it never happened.

 

I'm not saying Saunders wouldn't be a troubling style for Barkley of course he would. But I don't think Saunders has been tested against a fighter quite like Barkley who will make him dig deep in the middle to late rounds.

Saunders is good but I don't think he's at the level of Nunn, Kalambay, I don't think he has their type of skills to be able to stay out of harms way vs Barkley at some point I believe Barkley will start making it a battle of attrition.

Let's put it this way if Eubank Jr can make it a rough fight for Saunders in the 2nd half of a fight then Barkley certainly can.

 

Take for example Jim Watt who I absolutely loved - hard nosed southpaw who became a world champion after many years in the pros and then went on to beat up Olympic star Howard Davis in a pretty big upset.
Loved Jim Watts technician southpaw style but if you asked me how do you think he would have fared against Mayweather I would say Mayweather by a wide decision- simply would have been too fast for Watt.
Iran deserves all the credit he gets because he earned it the hard way and always gave 100%.
I have alot of respect for Iran but asking him to win vs a slick southpaw who is two times faster then Iran is asking too much.

 

I always thought Saunders beat Eubank pretty easily.
Now reverse it and if a relative novice boxer like Amparo can come in and hit Barkley almost at will and back Iran up what would Saunders be able to do?

 

It was a close fight Saunders certainly did not win "pretty easily" it was a split decision and Eubank made it close down the stretch.

Amparo is a tough rugged come forward fighter how does he have any relevance to Saunders style wise ?

Saunders is a Southpaw outboxer with not much power how he's going to back up Barkley ? Saunders never stopped one world class fighter in his whole career.

 

But I think you're overestimating Saunders ability he never beat an upper echelon opponent and he stayed at the same level against B and C class opponents without ever rising above that level.

When he did finally step up to the next level vs Canelo he got stopped and his career was basically over.

 

I also watched Saunders have a field day with Lemieux and Barkley lose to a rolly polly Duran and get countered to death by Toney.

Saunders is one of my least favorite personalities in boxing but Barkley plays into his strengths.

 

Even Duran at Middleweight would be significantly better than anyone Saunders beat and that's the point he never rose above B and C class level type opponents.

 

Barkleys toughness alone would be too much for Saunders. Billy Jo was a good fighter but highly overrated.

 

I don’t think Barkley was anything better than B and C level. It’s not like Oliver McCall gets put on the same pedestal.

 

I'm not saying Barkley is some amazing H2H fighter but his best wins over the likes of Van Horn, Kinchen, Olajide, are pretty much comparable to Saunders best wins. And then you have the A+ wins over Hearns which are far and away better than any wins Saunders had.

The point I'm making is Saunders was talented but I don't think he showed his talent against any upper echelon opponents that would make me think he's a huge favourite.

Saunders definitely has a troubling style for Barkley for sure but I don't think he's ever met a fighter like Barkley with his dimensions who's going to pressure him all night and make him ask questions about himself.

Yeah the likes of Duran, Kalambay, Nunn, Toney, beat Barkley but they also competed on a much higher level than Saunders did.