Saunders Defeats Molnar

By Jim Dower: 2008 British Olympian Billy Joe Saunders (1-0, 1 KOs) defeated Attila Molnar (12-13-6, 5 KOs) in the 2nf round of a scheduled four round bout on Saturday night at the National Indoor Arena, in Birmingham, West Midlands. In the 2nd round, Saunders backed Molnar up against the ropes and nailed him with a flurry of power shots that snapped Molnar’s head around, hurting him badly. Referee John Keane then stepped in and stopped the fight at 1:47 of the round before Saunders could finish him off.

Saunders, only 19, had little problems with Molnar, attacking him fiercely with hard combinations. Showing good power and excellent combinations, Saunders went after Molnar in the opening round, hitting him with lefts to the head and nice body shots. Saunders seemed to be a little overeager to score a knockout, however, as he missed quite often with his shots and looked more than a little sloppy.

Molnar could do little to stem the flow of punches coming at him from Saunders and mostly just stood and covered up futilely. At the same time, he wasn’t fighting back and giving Saunders free reign to throw his power shots without worry.

In the 2nd, Saunders continued going after a badly overmatched Molnar, tagging him with nice right hands to the head and backing him up all around the ring with shots. Finally, after Saunders landed a flurry of shots while Molnar was backed up against the ropes, referee John Keane stepped in and halted the fight. It was good stoppage because Molnar would have surely been snowed under with shots if he had been allowed to fight on much longer.

Saunders looked good for a fighter only 19. However, he needs a lot more experience and needs to mature three to four more years before he’ll be ready to face top level opposition. He looks a little weak and slow for a welterweight and I wouldn’t like his chances against a good B-level fighter, let alone a top A class fighter.