JUST HOW ELITE IS BILLY JOE SAUNDERS? 

I have to hold my hands up and say I was not a huge fan of BJS. Yes, I thought he was a good boxer, with decent boxing skill, who could make noise on the world stage. But never once did I class him as great, let alone elite. But after his masterclass performance against Lemieux. I am not ashamed to say my thoughts on BJS has unequivocally changed. 

Even after his defeats of Eubank Jr where I thought that had more to do with Eubank Jr not performing. The victory over Andy Lee, who I always thought was a decent but not great fighter. I still never really classed him as a top class fighter. Just a very good one. 

However, after two lacklustre fights in the past 12 months that saw him plod and bore his way to two 12 round, unspectacular points victories. He knew he had something to prove, going into Lemieux’s back yard to defend his belt. I think linking up with trainer Dominic Ingle, who he has worked with for about six months now, has made huge difference. 

I don’t know whether Saunders had this in his game all along, but the movement and footwork he showed against Lemieux was something I had never seen before.

I am not exaggerating when I say it was smooth, slick and at times mesmerising, not that dissimilar to Mayweather. For me, that movement was the most impressive thing. 

Then you add to that his discipline of picking his shots and sticking to the game plan. Keeping Lemieux at bay, but tagging and hurting him enough to keep the Canadian weary and guessing, so he doesn’t throw caution to the wind and come in throwing big bombs left right and centre. It was easily his best performance, against easily, on paper at least, his toughest opponent. And quite frankly, he embarrassed him. 

Don’t get me wrong. I know Golovkin stopped Lemieux in eight rounds and Lemieux had two further defeats before that. In the Golovkin fight, triple G overpowered Lemieux, then wore him down with brute force and sheer punching power and strength. Saunders on the other hand, gave him a boxing lesson. He didn’t look troubled at all in the fight, taunted him throughout and made him look like a novice, while having fun with him. 

Although in the grand scheme of things Lemieux is not classed as an elite fighter. He’s however, classed as a very good fighter and to brush him aside with ease in that way, puts BJS’s right in the elite mix. Easily in the top 20 p4p list. And why not? He’s the WBO middleweight title holder with three defences and unbeaten in 26 fights. 

The real question is, exactly where in the mix is he? At the end of the day, you’re only as good as your last performance and by this performance, his next fight should be against the likes of Golovkin or Canelo or Jacobs. All roads has to lead to a unification bout. Triple G has the WBA. IBF and WBC belts with Saunders holding the WBO, so it makes sense. 

However, by the looks of it, Golovkin and Canelo maybe rematching next May. Which in all honesty, the public deserves to see, even though Golovkin legitimately won that. If that’s the case, the only draw back is Saunders can’t sit and wait for the winner. He has to fight again and for me he cant take a mandatory, the only other fight out there for him would be a fight against Danny Jacobs which is a very high risk bout. 

In an ideal world, next should be a unification bout between Golovkin and Saunders for June.

There should then be an argument for Canelo to fight Jacobs around the same time, and the winners of each bout, would fight each other at the end of 2018, for all the belts. How can you go wrong with that? 

Unfortunately, we all know we don’t live in an ideal world and with the four boxing factions involved, as well as numerous promoters, managers etc. They will never come to that sort of agreement. However perfect it would be for the division and the boxing public. 

With that said. Following such a performance, nobody can deny Billy Joe Saunders’ position in the middleweight division and boxing in general. A performance such as this will make the public demand a unification bout with Golovkin. If not next, then the fight after. And judging by the way Jacobs gave Golovkin so much problems in a fight I still think Jacobs won. With BJS’s movement and slick boxing ability. Golovkin will not be relishing it. However, the question would be if BJS can stay out of Golovkin’s way for the whole fight?

They are the kind of fights such a performance warrants. From now on. Its onwards and upwards. He has the momentum and needs to strike while the iron is hot. 

I would never have said this a year ago. Hell, I wouldn’t have said this last week. But I now actually fancy BJS chances against any middleweight on the planet.