Billy Joe Saunders produced the best performance of his career as he successfully made the third defence of his WBO world middleweight title against the Canadian, David Lemieux in enemy territory in Quebec, Canada.
Billy Joe Saunders was awarded the unanimous decision victory, piling up wide scorecard verdicts in his favour. The tallies at the end of the night, read 120-108, 117-111, 118-110.
Saunders started the brighter fighter right from the get go, scoring repeatedly behind a ramrod, sharp jab. ‘The Superb’ Billy Joe Saunders masterful footwork was offsetting his Canadian adversary at every turn.
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Lemieux looked slow and ponderous and was really struggling to even get into punching range with Saunders.
In the second round, Lemieux’s face began to tell the tale of what would become a one-sided drubbing as the cheek of Lemieux began to redden.
Saunders continued to make his man miss and the sense of frustration from Lemieux was apparent.
The Englishman ended the second round with a strong body shot after following up on pinning Lemieux into the corner and landing a solid combination flurry.
Saunders feints and movement continued to befuddle Lemieux in the third round, who was really struggling to come up with anything of substance on his part.
Lemieux lowered his guard and seemed to be willing to take more chances by leading with wide swinging punches, but it was fruitless.
The Canadian had some limited success at the end of the round but still it should be said, it was still no way near enough to make an argument that could take the round away from the Briton.
Saunders continued to dominate his technically inferior foe through the middle rounds.
Saunders was boxing masterfully on the back foot and continuing to make Lemieux look amateurish and out of his depth.
The hometown Canadian crowd began to voice their displeasure at the way the fight was going and began to boo because of the lack of competitiveness in the fight.
That didn’t have any effect on Saunders’ performance however, as he continued to display a virtuoso performance.
Saunders began the second half of the fight, with his most emphatic round in the seventh.
The Englishman came off the tips of his toes and began to stand flat footed in front of Lemieux and this allowed him to really sit down on his punches and maximise the power behind them.
Saunders rocked Lemieux with a hard right hand. Saunders followed that up with a savage left which rocked Lemieux to his boots and stopped him in his tracks.
The champion continued to exhibit exceptional footwork in the eighth round defusing all of Lemieux’s weaponry.
Saunders began to become vocal, taunting his foe as he continued to struggle to closing the range and land the knockout blow he so desperately needed.
Lemieux looked like a beaten man down the stretch. His face was badly bruised.
He was black and blue and the blood was streaming from his nose as Saunders continued to bust it with a sharp left hand lead from range.
Lemieux did have his only real success at the end of the eleventh round, when he landed his first solid blow of the night.
Billy Joe Saunders was shaken and needed to use his smarts to hold as the eleventh came to a close.
#AndStill 🔥💥
What a performance from @bjsaunders_ 👏
A masterclass from start to finish!#SaundersLemieuxpic.twitter.com/jiBfSdr3ID
— Boxing on BT Sport 🥊 (@BTSportBoxing) December 17, 2017
Dominic Ingle warned his charge before the final round that his Canadian counterpart was going to come running at him for a last chance saloon.
The WBO middleweight champion ended the fight, just how it began. Defusing everything Lemieux was trying to do, simply with his feet.
"You wanted to fight me when I was 14-stone out of shape!"@bjsaunders_ has called out Gennady Golovkin in Montreal 😮#SaundersLemieuxpic.twitter.com/VmBu8dw5dG
— Boxing on BT Sport 🥊 (@BTSportBoxing) December 17, 2017
The classy Saunders delivered undoubtedly the best performance of his career in this fight.
He proved he is worthy of a step up in class into the rarefied air of the middleweight division to face either Gennady Golovkin or Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez in a super-fight.
Speaking to Max Kellerman following the fight, Saunders claimed he was always in control in the ring.
“I know what type of fighter he was, I knew what he was coming for” Saunders said about Lemieux.
The undefeated Englishman then on a final note, had a message for ‘GGG’.
He said directly into the camera, “I’ve had enough dog-meat, I want Golovkin!” before adding, “You called me out when I was 14 stone, fight me now!”
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