[url]http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/sport/boxing-news/2011/10/25/saunders-is-set-for-his-first-professional-fight-72703-29654901/[/url]
heard about this a few weeks ago. It was always on the cards as soon as he lost his olympic place. Glad to se Rutherford in his corner, he is an awesome coach, done wonders in the amateurs so looking forward to see how he does as a pro coach
He missed the boat being an Olympian he has achieved little in the ams since the last Olympics but hope he does well in his pro career.
He went to beijing and was knocked out in the second round. Was accused of stashing loads of coke in his garden or something afterwards but charges were dropped. He was hoping to go to the olympics again but broke his ribs before the world champs, Evans took his place and qualified. he is a commonwealth silver medalist, world champs bronze as well as aba champ and loads of championships at junior and schoolboy level. Am record is something like 135 wins from 150 bouts. Coach Rutherford is the Birtley juniors coach, has over 50 national champions under his belt as well as loads of international champs including european and world champs gold medalists. very observant bloke, you can see why he has loads of champs when you watch him in the gym. Should be a good pairing.
I thought that his decision to stay amateur was strange. From memory I said at the time that the pull of the London games was bound to cause somebody some heartache, that there'd be an injury, the emergence of a better candidate in a particular weight class or whatever - and so it's proved. He's probably still young enough to make a go of it, but he's missed out on the funny money that was flying about and will probably only fight four times a year. Good luck to him though :good
He really seemed to stagnate the last couple years and the results were very disappointing for a man with the amateur experience he had. He's certainly got a bit of talent so hopefully this gives his career a real boost.
Ive only seen him a couple of times but thought he would do well pro after the last olympics when i saw him then he went to the body well. IIRC he stopped his 1st round opponent with bodyshots.
Which Heffron are we talking about? It was Mark who went in with Foot! But your right, what a fight that was! One of the best I have seen!!!