By Nate Anderson: Undefeated welterweight prospect Billy Joe Saunders (2-0, 2 KOs) scored a 2nd round TKO last night over his outgunned opponent Ronny Gabel (2-2, 2 KOs) at the Odyssey Arena, in Belfast, Ireland. Saunders, 19, battered Gabel at will with huge shots in the 2nd round, prompting referee Terry O’Conner to step in and halt the bout at 1:16 of the 2nd round.
Gabel, 24, was no match for the power punching Saunders, who attacked Gabel early in the 1st round with big right hooks to the body and straight left hands to the head. The body shots were particularly nasty, as the southpaw Saunders but a great deal of power into his shots.
Saunders crowed Gabel, staying close to him and hitting him with blistering shots to the body and head repeatedly. Saunders shots were thrown with a lot of speed as well as power.
It was Saunder’s body shots that appeared to do the most damage in the round, as he planted hooks to the midsection of Gabel continuously in the round and had him looking uncomfortable as the round was nearing the end. Saunders ended up throwing 100 punches in the round, which was a lot more than Gabel could muster up.
For his part, Gabel did very little in the opening round, only able to land occasionally due to the powerful incoming shots thrown from Saunders. By the end of the round, Gabel had red swelling under his right eye and cheek from the numerous big shots that Saunders had hit him with in the round. Gabel showed a good chin because he was getting really hammered in the round by Saunders.
In the 2nd round, Saunders no longer seemed to care about getting pegged with any of Gabel’s weak punches and went all out throwing huge shots with both hands to the head and body. Saunders punished Gabel against the ropes repeatedly with big body shots, not giving him a break for a moment between heavy shots. Finally, referee Terry O’Conner had seen enough and stepped in and halted the one-sided mismatch at 1:16 of the round.
The card was loaded with other British amateur prospects with James DeGale and Frankie Gavin also fighting. Saunders appeared to put on the best performance of the night, showing better skills that DeGale and Gavin in my estimation.
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