By Jeff Aranow: Billy Joe Saunders isn’t looking to take the high road after his win over David Lemieux last Saturday night in Quebec, Canada. Rather than playing Mr. nice guy after beating the 28-year-old Lemieux (38-4, 33 KOs) by a decisive 12 round unanimous decision, Saunders chose to send a Tweet to his beaten opponent, reminding him of some trash talking he’d done recently.
Here’s what Lemieux said about Saunders last October:
“I finally get the chance to teach this coward a lesson.”
This was Saunders replay earlier this morning on December 18:
“Did you mistake ‘I’ for ‘You’?”
Saunders obviously couldn’t resist gloating about his win over Lemieux, and rub salt in the wounds of his beaten Canadian opponent. Thus far, Lemieux hasn’t made any noise about wanting a rematch with Saunders. Lemieux mentioned that he had suffered a left hand injury in the 2nd round of the fight, which kept him from using the hand the way he wanted to for the remainder of the fight. Asking for a rematch would be the natural thing for Lemieux to do under this type of injury circumstance. Lemieux hasn’t shown X-rays of the injury or given an update on the status of the injured limb. Hopefully, Lemieux will send a Tweet on condition of his left hand.
Lemieux’s boxing fans didn’t like the way the fight went between him and Saunders. Unfortunately, Lemieux had a hard time trying to get close enough to land his shorter power shots. Saunders kept the action at range, using his jab and left hand power shots to prevent Lemieux from being able to connect with his dangerous left hook and right hand shots.
During the course of the action, Saunders mocked Lemieux after he missed with a big left hook in the 5th round. Saunders turned to the crowd and seemed to be looking for the punch that Lemieux had badly missed. It was a showboating move by Saunders, who by that point in the fight had lost respect for his opponent due to the one-sided nature of the contest.
By the 10th round, Lemieux’s face was bloody, red and swollen from the shots he’d eaten from Saunders.
“I knew what he was coming for. I look easy to hurt, but you can’t hit me,” said Saunders. ”I like going to somebody’s backyard because I perform better. I’m a whole different animal now,” said Saunders.
I don’t think it’s always going to work in Saunders’ favor in traveling to his opponent’s home country. Lemieux was the perfect opponent for Saunders to look good against no matter where the fight took place. If this had been someone like Saul Canelo Alvarez, Gennady Golovkin, Danny Jacobs or the Charlo brothers, it might not have gone well for Saunders traveling to their countries as the visiting fighter. Saunders’ success as a traveler for his fights is more dependent upon the level of his opponent. Saunders did well against Lemieux, but things might not go to his liking when/if he mixes it up with Golovkin, Canelo, Jacobs, Demetrius Andrade, Sergiy Derevyanchenko or the Charlo brothers. Those guys are arguably a level above Lemieux in talent.