By Scott Gilfoid: #1 WBO contender Billy Joe Saunders (22-0, 12 KOs) is feeling pretty good right now about his chances to beat WBO middleweight champion Andy Lee (34-2-1, 24 KOs) in their fight in a little over two weeks from now on December 19th at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, UK.
New heavyweight champion Tyson Fury is picking the 26-year-old Saunders to beat the older 31-year-old Lee in their important fight. Fury is the cousin of Lee, which makes it somewhat odd that he’s picking Lee to lose the fight.
The way that Lee has fought in his last three fights, it’s only a matter of time before he loses again. Lee’s punching power has saved him from defeats to Peter Quillin, Matt Korobov and John Jackson. The good news for Lee is that Saunders doesn’t have the same kind of punching power that those three fighters possess. It means that Lee won’t have to be on guard as much in this fight as he was in those three fights. Saunders is more of a hit and run type of fighter who can’t stand in the pocket the way other fighters can.
“Tyson said he’s backing me to win the WBO world middleweight title against Lee and then we’ll both rule,” said Saunders. “I believe that this is the start of a new era in boxing for gypsy fighters, Tyson’s world champion, I’m going to beat Lee and become the next world champion, and there are plenty more travelling lads coming through who are all potential world champions.”
I hope for Saunders’ sake he’s not taking too much value in what Fury is saying to him about him winning the fight because it doesn’t matter at all what Fury’s predictions are about this fight. Fury isn’t going to be in the ring looking to trade shots. I mean, Fury can flap his gums 24/7 all he wants, and it’s not going to make one bit of difference in the outcome of this fight.
Saunders is going to have to hope that Lee wears out late in the fight so that he can score a knockout over him the same way that Brian Vera and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. did in the past. Lee isn’t easy to beat, and the guys that have beaten him in the way have been guys with good punching power. Saunders would seem to be the least likely fighter to beat Lee because he can’t punch at all.
Saunders is more of a big middleweight who mainly outboxes his opponents.
Saunders looked flabby and out of shape in his last fight against little known 2nd tier fighter Yoann Bloyer last July. While Saunders did get a 4th round stoppage to get the victory, he weighed in at a hefty 173lbs for the fight. When Saunders stepped inside the ring, he looked to be in the 190s. He was huge. That tells me that Saunders might be fighting outside of his normal weight class.
When you’ve got a fighter weighing in 13 pounds over the 160lb weight limit and then bulking up to cruiserweight after the weigh-in, it tells me that fighter should be at least fighting at super middleweight at the minimum. If you wonder why Saunders gassed out in the 2nd half of his fight last November against Chris Eubank Jr., it could very well be due to all the weight that Saunders is taking off to get to 160 and then putting back on the night before his fights.
I’d like to see Saunders fighting at 168 in an experimental way because he might be better at his normal weight than having to melt down to 160 each time he fights the way that Martin Murray used to do when he was fighting at middleweight. A fighter can melt down to an unnatural weight only so many times before the well dries up and they start getting exhausted quickly in their fights and weakened.
For the younger fighters, they seem to be able to get away with this practice for a while, but the older guys find it really hard on their bodies. The question is will Saunders wind up a six-round fighter on December 19th when he gets inside the ring with Lee? I hate to say it but I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s what we see from Saunders on fight night this month.