Billy Joe Saunders lands WBO middleweight glory after Manchester points win

Middleweight titleholder Daniel Jacobs has a keen interest in the outcome of the fight between titleholder Andy Lee and mandatory challenger Billy Joe Saunders on Saturday (Showtime Extreme, 5 p.m. ET/PT) at Manchester Arena in Manchester, England, because he would love to fight the victor in a title unifcation fight.

In a bout billed as the first world title fight between two Travellers, Saunders was given the nod 114-112 and 115-111 by two of the judges, with the third scoring it a 113-113 draw as the 26-year-old extended his flawless record to 23-0, with 12 knock-out wins.

Saunders seemed to lose focus after the 3rd round, and I had him losing every round from then on. In the last round, both fighters gave everything they had in their tanks to for the winning score with the two sides claiming victory. Lee was busier in the late rounds. “He actually caught me with a shot when I tried to finish him”. Lee appeared to have fully recovered in the fifth round but he was again stunned by a power left hook though it wasn’t enough to put him down again. Saunders didn’t do that though. He then waited for Lee to miss and landed a three-punch combination, sending Lee down a second time with another right hand.

ANDY Lee has been dethroned as WBO middleweight champion of the world. Lee boxed Saunders silly from the 4th to the 12th, and won the fight going away.

“Lee showed that he can be risky”. In hindsight, Lee should have opted to have the fight take place in Ireland.

“Jimmy said in camp “roll that hook in” he knew the Lee lead hand was low and I thought “that’s not going to work” but when I say Andy Lee’s jab was going down near his knee I rolled it in lovely and caught him handsome”.

The win for Saunders probably means no unification fight against Gennady Golovkin. “He has beaten Matt Korobov”, Saunders said.

Up next for Saunders could be an unnecessary rematch with Chris Eubank Jr., as that’s what has continued to be hyped up in the UK.

“It’s an early Christmas present, he thoroughly deserves it, he’s worked very hard preparing for this fight and I thought it was one of the most intelligent performances I’ve seen from a boxer for a long, long time”.