Unbeaten WBO super middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders (30-0, 14 KOs) outboxed five-time world title challenger Martin Murray (39-6-1, 17 KOs) over twelve one-sided rounds on Friday night at the SSE Arena in London. Saunders completely befuddled and neutralized the 38-year-old Murray en route to scores of 120-109, 120-109, 118-110.
“I wasn’t really happy with that performance,” Saunders told Matchroom after the fight. “I’m not taking anything away from Martin, he came with a good game plan. He got through it. He tucked up and survived well. I can only be a bit critical of myself because I had a bit of ring rust. My jab was there but there was just that bit of snap missing. I was trying to look for stuff when naturally it’s there.
“When you’re in a training camp getting ready for Canelo Alvarez and you’re in the biggest fight of your life, you’ve got that fear factor and everything there, and then the pandemic came and I can only be thankful to be out this year. But then you’re back in camp and it’s a defense against Martin Murray, I was penciled in to fight him twice in 2018. It was sort of like a hard kick in the teeth. But look, I’ve got to be thankful my management team MTK that I’m even out this year.
“It is what it is, and we move on. I’m 30-0 and still unbeaten and still world champion. I’ve been world champion now since 2015. People can run my performance down but let’s make the big fights, because it’s certainly not me turning them away. Eddie knows that I’m always there to sign. I had the Canelo fight signed and it fell through, that’s nobody’s fault.
“Martin was a cunning old fox, he knew what he was doing and he had the ref on his side, he had the ref eating out of his hand. Fair play to him. I learnt a lot from him to be honest. Perhaps everything happens for a reason and I learnt a hell of a lot from the fight.
“Fair play to Callum Smith and I really do wish him all of the success in that fight. I think he’s got the tools to do the job. Canelo would have been training since May for this fight. He would have had Smith in his eyesight from day one. It’s been sprung on him at five or six weeks. They’re very clever in the way they work. If Smith has done his homework and prepared well then I give him a good chance of winning the fight. We are pushing for big fights constantly. After the Canelo fight, I want to know my next date. I’m not getting any younger and I want to show my full potential.”
Saunders looked really good tonight. If he only had a bigger punch!
Saunders has some good defensive skills as a fighter. However, he should be glad he was not facing Alvarez in this fight. You are right, he does have lack of power and that would have been an invite for Alvarez to simply walk him down and batter him. Alvarez I think would have stopped him in the later rounds if that fight would have been a reality.
not a bad showing so he needs to either fight BooBoob or GGG next then Canelo
i think BJS’s brain works very quickly in the ring. He doesn’t look super fast in his movements and he isn’t that powerful, but he just seems to cleverly come off on top in every exchange. Looks frustrating for an opponent
yea maybe so but he does only fight has beens and Hoe depot workers
I know he’s not going to win any citizen of the year competitions, but BJS is a very intelligent, very skilled fighter. For all his brash talk he’s a calm thinker in the ring. If he gets a marquee fight and the occasion doesn’t make him uncomfortable, I honestly think he’d be a serious challenge for anyone.
Not really sure what Saunder’s outside the ring issues are, but he is an underrated fighter. I would love to see him fight Canelo.
I’ve seen sanders fight a few times and I’ve had more fun watching paint dry. The guy is boring, I wouldn’t waste my money watching him fight someone like GGG or Cáñelo. Let him fight Jacobs or some other bum.
O-I like watcing Saunders fight. He certainly lacks the punch and aggression that make boxing exciting to watch, but he’s masterful at the “chess” aspect of the sport: Cutting off the ring, using and creating angles, counter punching, and slipping punches. He reminds me of Chris Byrd, James Toney, Eddie Chambers, Winky Wright and although not nearly as flashy and fan friendly-Prince Naseem!
Let him fight Boo Boo so we can have the most boring fight ever staged.
Saunders has serious talent, unfortunately he also has serious issue with consistency.
A motivated and inform Saunders is a match for anyone.
nah just another overhyped Brit fighter
It’s funny. I see how you could mean overrated by some experts, but overhyped, certainly not. He is virtually unknown in the UK. There is no hype whatsover compared with people like AJ or even Daniel Dubois. Eubank Jr is more hyped than BJS and Saunders beat him.
I don’t see the hype! Overrated? No! He’s 30 – 0 with wins over Andy Lee, Eubank Jr, Monroe Jr, Lemieux and now Murray. He’s sold and deserves the little attention he gets. I would like to see him against top 3. Why not Daniel Jacobs? Or Charlo? Andrade? Don’t know if super-middle is too big?