Billy Joe Saunders vs. John Ryder preview

By Boxing News - 09/10/2013 - Comments

saunders433By Rachel Aylett: September 21st sees the Frank Warren team promoting their first show of the new season. The top of the bill is a fascinating British middleweight title fight with Billy Joe Saunders defending against his top challenger, John Ryder. This is a battle of unbeatens and is an intriguing encounter on many fronts.

Champion Billy Joe is one of the class of ’08 Beijing Olympians, which includes current successful professionals, James DeGale, Frankie Gavin, David Price, Joe Murray and current hot prospects Bradley Saunders and Kal Yafai. It is looking increasingly likely that Billy Joe Saunders will prove to be the best of this bunch.

Saunders has not had things all in his favour since he turned pro. He has suffered injuries to his hands which have kept him out of the ring for lengthy periods. During this time he rather fell behind his erstwhile team-mates. However, he has steadily caught up, first winning Southern Area, then Commonwealth and most recently British titles at middleweight. He has shown steady improvement over this period. It seemed in the early part of his career that he would be a banger and he boxed most of his fights on the front foot. During his more recent fights though and as he has stepped up in class of opponent, his punching power has looked less devastating. What he has shown is tremendous skill, both on the back foot and when he attacks on the front foot. He has every punch in the book in his arsenal and is an absolute joy to watch. He has great balance, footwork and puts his punches together superbly. His wins over Bradley Pryce, Nick Blackwell, Matthew Hall and Gary O’Sullivan have seen him barely lose a round. Normally, one sided fights are rather boring to watch, but with this guy you just want to sit back and enjoy his lovely skills. This writer believes he will prove better in the long run than the three current world-rated Brits, Barker, Macklin and Murray.

Saunders comes from the “traveller” community. His ambitions include being the first traveller to win a British Lonsdale Belt outright and to be the first to win a recognised world belt. If he beats Ryder he will require one more successful defence to achieve the former and can then concentrate on the latter. The interim aim should be to win the European title and then he can attack the top world contenders in the middleweight division.

His challenger, Ryder, is a promising young fighter but has never really fought anyone of note. The only decent opponent on his record is Eamonn O’Kane who was a very good amateur but has achieved nothing to date in the pro game. Ryder defeated O’Kane easily enough but that was no preparation for the task he is facing here. Ryder is a southpaw, like Saunders, and a come forward pressure fighter. These tactics will play directly into the hands of Saunders who I expect to box on the back foot and win a fairly comfortable decision. There will be times during the fight when the two trade off, but although a very solid puncher, I don’t think Ryder has the power to disturb Billy Joe inordinately. Look for this to go the distance then, with Saunders winning on points, something like 117-111.

@RachelAylett1



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