Billy Joe Saunders is Targeting a Title Push For 2011
By Terence Dooley
Hatfield hopeful Billy Joe Saunders has had a mixed 2010, the 2008 Olympic bronze medalist went 2-0 (1) during this calendar year yet his progress has been hampered by a niggling hand injury, which kept him out of action between May’s points win over Andy Butlin and last Saturday’s stoppage win over veteran journeyman Tony Randell at the ECHO Arena, Liverpool.
Saunders (158½lb) looked purposeful from the first bell, weaving combinations together with an ease that belied his lengthy layoff; Randell (160½lb) reeled off five successive wins in 2009, including an upset win over Kevin Concepcion for the Midlands Area middleweight title, but has since suffered a slump in form, losing four in a row going into this one.
Billy Joe punctuated this gulf in form early in round two, hammering Tony with uppercuts and straight shots to force the stoppage at 0:39 of the stanza. It was a solid end to a staccato year for Saunders, whose main concern was to ensure that his hand came through unscathed.
“I’m over the moon with that performance,” smiled Saunders when recalling the win. “I’ve been out for months and it has been really hard. I’ve had a bit of sparring but didn’t want to overdo things with the hand. I worked on my combinations in the gym and they paid off tonight – I was landing my shots and felt really fit.
“It feels like the injury had never happened. I’m please with the way my hand held up and have my doctor to thank for that – I’d recommend him to anyone. Thank god all that work paid off.”
Randell, 11-24-2 (4), has lost to Matthew Hall, Prince Arron, twice, and now Saunders, he is enduring a torrid 2010. However, Saunders, now 7-0 (4), revealed that he had paid little attention to the form guide and had, instead, concentrated on posting a controlled win.
“I went in there in good health and was flying. I caught him with a good shot in the first round and could have stopped him but I didn’t want to just blast away and do it like that in a round,” he said.
“I wanted to be compact, clean and do it in style with good shots. It paid off, I caught him with a lovely uppercut and completed the fight alright – it is a good win. I know that I could have done what I did tonight against anyone because I feel really, really good and know what I can do.
“That is my best stoppage and I’m really happy, it is onwards and upwards from here. 2010 has been a bad year for me, I didn’t fight as often as I’d like because of injury but I produced good performances when I did fight.”
Saunders has been the subject of much online debate, with fans concerned about his stop-star career thus far, especially in light of James DeGale’s meteoric rise. Saunders, though, believes that DeGale’s Olympic gold medal win makes for a radically different early career trajectory.
“I’ll sit down with [promoter] Frank [Warren], get back next year and will be looking for a title. James is an Olympic gold medalist so I can’t ask Frank to push me the way he’s pushing James at the minute but I think that next year I can be pushed on,” he answered when asked about DeGale’s British title triumph.
“Whenever Frank thinks I’m ready he just has put me in for a title and I’ll be ready for anything.”
Please send news and views to neckodeemus@hotmail.co.uk
