By Keith Idec

Easy.

That was Willie Monroe Jr.’s response when asked how he intends to beat Billy Joe Saunders. The American middleweight contender will have to defeat England’s Saunders in London, where they’ll fight for the Manchester native’s WBO middleweight title September 16.

The ever-talkative Saunders belittled Monroe during a press conference Monday for “quitting” in his first middleweight title fight, a sixth-round technical knockout loss to Gennady Golovkin two years ago. The southpaw from Rochester, New York, admitted Saunders’ trash talk annoyed him, but Monroe promised Monday to shut Saunders up when they fight eight weeks from Saturday night at Copper Box Arena.

“Easy. That’s how I win – easy,” Monroe told Box Nation following the press conference to officially announce their fight. “Be Willie Monroe. That’s all I’ve gotta do. If I’m 100-percent Willie Monroe, he shouldn’t be able to touch me. Not to take anything away from him, but I know who I am, too.”

Monroe acknowledged, however, that fighting a fellow left-handed opponent will make his task more difficult during a main event Box Nation will televise in the United Kingdom.

“It’s a big [test],” Monroe said. “Obviously, he’s a world champion. I mean, he’s a lefty, tricky, like myself. It should make for a good fight.”

The 27-year-old Saunders (24-0, 12 KOs) will fight for the first time since he overcame an admittedly sluggish start to unanimously out-point Russia’s Artur Akavov (17-2, 7 KOs) on December 3 in Paisley, Scotland.

The 30-year-old Monroe (21-2, 6 KOs) will end an even longer layoff when he faces Saunders. Monroe hasn’t boxed since defeating Philadelphia’s Gabe Rosado (23-11, 13 KOs) by unanimous decision in a 12-round fight September 17 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

“I had a good look at him, been watching him for a while,” Monroe said. “Probably right around the [Chris] Eubank [Jr.] fight is when I really started watching him. So like I said, he’s tricky, lefty. I mean, most of us lefties are tricky. It should be a good fight.”

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.