Frank Warren: Saunders Wants To Fight Two More Times in 2019

By Frank Warren

BILLY JOE SAUNDERS confirmed his position as the King of Herts on Saturday night with a typically fleet-footed display which, at times, had his opponent Shefat Isufi punching shadows.

The most important thing to come out of the successful night at the Lamex Stadium in Stevenage was Bill becoming a two-weight world champion and congratulations to him on joining an elite band of fighters.

Bill has now got something other big fighters want, which makes it so much easier when it comes to putting together the marquee fights he wants in the near future. He has got a big bargaining chip, but I would imagine it still won’t be a straightforward exercise tempting the big names to share a ring with him.

Pure boxers like Bill are hard to match because the top operators don’t want to risk being made to look stupid. When he is on his game, Bill has got it in him to completely flummox the best in the business with his movement, the angles he creates and his shot selection.

As if that isn’t enough to put people off, he has also got a granite chin.

I have to give credit to Isufi because he actually posed more of a threat than the highly-touted David Lemieux did in Bill’s last big fight. The Canadian is still linked to world title challengers after Bill made him look like a clumsy slugger who couldn’t lay a glove on him.

Isufi, with everything going against him, didn’t give up and did clip Bill a couple of times.

The final outcome though was inevitable and Bill can now really test out the super middleweight terrain. I suspect we won’t have a lot of joy matching him with the domestic champions and contenders, but there are three other world champions and hopefully one of them will be up for a unification match.

What is crucial now and what we fully intend to deliver is to keep Bill busy. I know it has all been said before, but Bill has a different focus now and appears to be really happy in his work with Ben Davison alongside Tyson Fury. Those two can inspire each other to great heights.

Bill wants to be out a further two times this year, which is good news for us, the fans and BT Sport.

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