WBO middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders made a splash in his North American debut. On Saturday in Canada, Saunders severely outclassed local hero and former champion David Lemieux.
You could make the case that Saunders won every round. One of three judges saw the fight that way, but the other two gave two and three rounds to Lemieux, respectively. We could argue about those scorecards, but at the end of the day, the right man took home the victory.
The keys to Saunders' win were movement and speed. His feet and hands were much quicker than Lemieux. You could see the challenger becoming frustrated early in the fight. Saunders peppered Lemieux with jabs throughout most of the first eight rounds before backing off the gas a bit in the later frames.
He only occasionally threw in the championship rounds to continue piling up the rounds.
The pro-Lemieux crowd booed Saunders throughout, but the champion remained poised and firmly committed to his gameplan. Sadly, Lemieux became the latest fighter to use an injury as an excuse for a poor in-ring performance. He claimed he was unable to use his left hand the way he wanted to from the second round through the 12th.
Unfortunately for him, members of the boxing community weren't buying the excuse:
I wonder what’s the more severe injury. LEMEIUX’S hand or Rigo’s hand.
— Boxing Kingdom (@BoxingKingdom14) December 17, 2017
All the credit goes to BJS for going into Lemieux’s home turf, and absolutely humiliated him. Definitely deserves to be in the conversation of top middleweights. #Boxing
— Mike Matias (@BoxingFanatic__) December 17, 2017
BJ Saunders = World class
Whether you like him or not out of the ring. In the ring you must respect his boxing ability.
He now has wins over Andy Lee, Chris Eubank & David Lemeiux.
— Boxing Kingdom (@BoxingKingdom14) December 17, 2017
Honestly I don't know where David Lemieux goes from here #SaundersLemieux #boxing
— Philippe St-Martin (@BoxRec_Canada) December 17, 2017
Can anybody ringside check to see if the judge who gave Lemieux three rounds was smoking too much loud the entire fight?
— LomachenkHOHO (@BoxrecGrey) December 17, 2017
We go to the scorecards: 120-108, 117-111, 118-110 all for Saunders. Rounds for Lemiuex is a JOKE!!!!!!!!!!!!! Horrible judges. #SaundersLemieux #boxing
— Dan Rafael (@danrafaelespn) December 17, 2017
American Middleweights take notice, BJS is coming!!! #boxing #SaundersLemieux
— Spurnandez (@Spurnandez210) December 17, 2017
Saunders used his post-fight interview to call out Gennady Golovkin. After his performance on Saturday, there may be some doubt as to whether Golovkin can catch up to the nimble and slick Saunders. If Golovkin and Canelo Alvarez are unable to come to an agreement on a rematch, perhaps the WBA, WBC and IBF champion will come looking to unify the title.
If Golovkin and Canelo can agree to fight in the late spring or early summer as expected, Saunders has firmly positioned himself as a viable option for the winner.