How do you think in hindsight - Billy Joe Saunders vs Callum Smith would have gone ?

BJS points

 

I always fancied Saunders in this one. Flat footed bangers like Callum always struggle with a busy, mobile type, especially if he has good lateral movement. It's hugely difficult to launch the big artillery when you are constantly turning.
Also, Smith has never been a gambling type of puncher. He is very conservative and lacks creativity. That's why he can look so bad at times. No plan B.
Having said this, I doubt very much whether Callum will fight at Super Middle again.

 

Billy Joe Saunders is flat footed at Super Middle weight. How many fights now since his last at middle? 4/5? And he’s moved for about 2 rounds during the whole time. He’s a stiff.

 

At 168, Smith narrowly beats Billie Joe via a decision.

I don’t rate Billie at 168, he is a 160lb fighter.

He doesn’t have the pop to keep anyone at the highest level honest. Smith is a monster at the weight and would land thudding shots on Billie from the outside and wear him down.

Billie would win rounds too through his boxing. But I think Smith takes over in the later rounds when the superior power of his punching slows Billie down.

People are under estimating Smith on this thread too. He didn’t perform well against Canelo but that was nowhere near his best performance.

 

I think BJS outboxes him. Smith is big and strong but fairly basic in what he does - he doesn’t do anything brilliant and in terms of pure boxing ability he is simply an upright tall boxer. He doesn’t jab and move, doesn’t have an inside game, he is as a boxer as simple as you can be but does the majority of the fundamentals right. He is a good pro for young amateurs to watch.

However, that basic style would come a cropper against a fluid moving boxer like BJS - the only way Smith wins is by imposing himself on Saunders and breaking him down. If Saunders showed up in one of his can’t be arsed moods, like against Akarov, then Smith would stop him late, but if he’s in shape and motivated he should be able to win 7/8 rounds and get the nod.

 

BJS points.

 

Please nobody use the "Smith went the distance with Canelo" statement as reasoning for Smith winning this fight.

 

I think in hindsight people are overrating Saunders now. I overrated him going into the fight but seeing his movement in the first round made me think he was a bit out of his depth.

Callum Smith landed more power punches and jabs on Canelo in their fight by the 8th round.

 

True enough but he's still a better, more savvy mover than Callum.

 

Smith might have landed more power punches and jabs (I can’t remember Smith doing anything that interested me to be fair) but I would argue that Saunder’s won more rounds in an 8 round stoppage than Callum did in a 12 round decision.

 

I can't quite fathom what the problem is with Callum Smith. He's huge for the weight, even at LH he will be an absolute unit, has displayed a good chin and has decent pop in his punches and yet, he fights relatively timid unless he has a totally overmatched opponent.

He should be the ring bully against all but the very best and doing a 'Beterbiev' on anyone in the SMW division. He should be manhandling someone like BJS who doesn't have anything like enough power to keep him honest and yet, I could see BJS boxing rings around him.

 

There’s a balance between being big for a weight and then being able to use your strength. Hurd and Smith for example were/are huge at their weights but I was never fully convinced with Smith being able to use his strength while Hurd got away with it for a long time.

Take Okolie for example, I’ve said it for ages he’s gonna be hard to beat because he’s so strong at the weight and has those big advantages despite lacking in other areas.

 

I personally think Smith is massively overrated based on stopping a George Groves who’d returned quickly from a career ending injury.

Personally never saw him look great beforehand against anyone decent and definitely not after. You can blame the weight but I’m not convinced. I just don’t think he’s that good. His entire reputation is based on that Groves win.

 

This proves why you shouldn't judge a fight based on stats and instead use your eyes.

You'd be hard pressed to give Smith a single round against Canelo.

 

Smith may not have been winning rounds but he was still landing blows and taking shots well from Canelo.

You'd be hard pressed to legitimately give Saunders more than 3 rounds against Canelo. I don't think Saunders is levels above Callum Smith to decisively beat him. I think it would be a relatively close fight like all Saunders other fights at that level.

Saunders is overrated due to his Lemieux performance. I remember all the Saunders fans trying to gloat and mock Eubank Jr saying he was a ''novice'' and he ''can't box'' yet Saunders arguably gave away every round after 6 to Eubank Jr when they fought. If Eubank Jr was a novice (that may be true) then what does that say about Saunders? He won a split decision against a novice boxer.

Saunders is a good boxer but many considered him ''elite'' and mayweather esque going into the Canelo fight when that was completely untrue. Saunders is world class but not elite.

Saunders was fortunate and perhaps a bit unfortunate the Canelo fight didn't happen at 160. If Saunders had stayed at 160 i'd have liked for him to fight Daniel Jacobs or Andrade or Derevychenko before Canelo. He'd have been much more prepared for what Canelo had to offer if he had a harder path to the fight.

I think Saunders was a level above Lemieux but on the same level as Andrade and Jacobs. World class just below elite. Which is nothing to be upset about.


I think if Saunders didn't break his orbital bone and cheek bone he'd have probably been stopped anyway. It looked like the tide was completely starting to turn. Canelo was landing his textbook body shots more often and upping the pressure. It seemed only a matter of time.

I actually bought into the Saunders hype for awhile because i think i wanted him to win and overrated him on the Lemieux performance. I think the truth is Saunders was never truly tested enough against better competition before he fought Canelo. I mentally blocked out his performances against Isufi and Murray at 168 because i thought he wasn't ''motivated'' enough.

I think if Saunders vs Callum Smith happened before the Canelo fights it would have been great for both of them.

I don't think either boxer was truly ''out of their depth'' against Canelo but both lacked an ''x-factor''. Whether that be a hard jab, movement, stamina, ring iq,...etc... I think something was missing. Maybe poor preparation was a big issue. I don't think Saunders had the strength to bully Canelo and i don't think Smith had a plan b.

I think if you compare Saunders vs Lemieux and Smith vs Groves. Saunders had the better looking win but Groves overall is a much better boxer than Lemieux and much stronger. I'd say even the injured Groves would beat Lemieux comfortably.