Billy Joe Saunders retains middleweight title with easy decision against David Lemieux
In his first fight outside of the United Kingdom, Billy Joe Saunders showed a world that knew little about him that he could be a force to be reckoned with in the middleweight division.
The southpaw, 28, displayed superb boxing acumen and a powerful and accurate right jab as he toyed with former champion David Lemieux in Lemieux's hometown before a packed house at Place Bell in Laval, Quebec.
Saunders remained undefeated while retaining his WBO middleweight title Saturday night with an impressive unanimous decision against Lemieux.
Lemieux (38-4, 33 KOs) won only five rounds total on the three judges scorecards, who scored it 117-111, 118-110 and 120-108 for Saunders. Paste BN scored it a shutout, 120-108 for Saunders. The fight was aired on HBO.
Saunders (26-0, 12 KOs), exhibited superb quickness and footwork and never allowed the hard-punching Lemieux to get inside and use his vaunted power. Saunders danced around the ring and landed 62 of 151 power punches, while Lemieux landed 55 of 236. But it was the jabbing that made the fight for Saunders. He landed 103 jabs to only 12 for Lemieux, and most were stiff jabs that often snapped Lemieux's head back.
Lemieux bled from the nose for much of the second half of the fight, the result of those jabs Saunders was able to land flush for much of the night.
Saunders showboated at times in the ring, drawing the ire of the packed pro-Lemieux crowd which felt that he ran most of the night. Saunders was booed vociferously as he talked to HBO's Max Kellerman in the ring after the fight.
"I know you're booing me because I whipped your fighter's ass, but that's boxing," Saunders said. "I like to come to someone's back yard because I perform better.
"I knew what sort of fighter David Lemieux is, and I knew what sort of coach he's got. I knew what he was coming for. I look easy to hurt, but you can't hit me."
Saunders credited trainer Dominic Ingle with kick-starting his career.
"At this time last year I was an absolute disgrace in Scotland (versus Artur Akavov). It's come down to one man, Dominic Ingle. If it wasn't for him my career would be finished and over."
Lemieux, meanwhile, said he "wasn't at his best, and hats off to Billy Joe. But as of the second round, my left hand, I couldn't use it the way I wanted to. He was on the run, and I had a little difficulty throwing my shots. I guess that's his strategy, to run away from fighters. If that's the way you want to win, then, hey, congratulations."
Saunders called out middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin, who KO'd Lemieux in the eighth round a little more than two years ago.
"Fight me now," Saunders said of Golovkin. "It will be a different story, you'll be punching fresh air."
O'Sullivan stops Douglas: On the undercard, Irish middleweight Gary "Spike" O'Sullivan started slowly but found his range in the fourth round, and proceeded to pick apart Antoine Douglas before dropping him in the seventh round. Referee Steve St.-Germain had seen that Douglas was unable to defend himself and stopped it at 1:03 of the round. O'Sullivan landed 102 of 291 punches (35%), while Douglas landed 77 of 204 (38%), according to CompuBox statistics. O'Sullivan improved to 27-2 (19 KOs), while Douglas, once a rising star, fell to 22-2 (16 KOs). He was knocked out in both of his losses.
'Hammer' gets hammered: Cletus Seldin, the "Hebrew Hammer" from Long Island, N.Y., met his match in Yves Ulysse and was soundly defeated by the more skilled Ulysse in a unanimous 10-round middleweight decision. Seldin (21-1, 17 KOs) found himself facing an opponent who stuck and moved from the opening ball, and it frustrated Seldin time and time again as Ulysse danced around the ring and made Seldin swing at air most of the time. Ulysse knocked Seldin down in each of the first three rounds. Seldin landed only 12% of his punches (42 of 333 total punches), while Ulysse was far more accurate, landing 51% of his power punches (143 of 289). Ulysse (15-1, 9 KOs) came in with greater amateur experience and it showed throughout the fight.