The fast-rising British pro-boxer Billy Joe Saunders has distinguished himself as an undefeated WBO middleweight champion since 2015. The great boxer turned pro in 2009 and since then, he has completed 26 fights and never lost any till date. Accordingly, he won the gold medal at the 2008 European Union Amateur Boxing Championship held in Cetniewo, Poland.
In addition to the foregoing, he currently ranks as the second-best active middleweight boxer by Transnational Boxing Rankings; fifth by BoxRec, third by The Ring Magazine, among others. Read on, as we take you through Billy Joe Saunders’ bio, career, body stats, and other facts below.
Billy Joe Saunders’ Brief Bio
Billy Joe Saunders was born in Welwyn Garden City of Hertfordshire in England on August 30, 1989. The boxer was born to English parents Tommy Saunders and his wife. His great-grandfather named Absolom Beeney was a well-known bare-knuckle boxer in his community during his time; Billy also trailed the same path and today, he has established himself as an undefeated middleweight champion. Although there is no much information about his family; we are able to gather that the boxing champion has an older brother named Tom Saunders Jr. Billy began his boxing career from a very tender age and fought for his community-based boxing club before he turned pro. Saunders’s nationality is British while he is of white ethnicity.
Boxing Career
During his amateur career, Saunders won his first 49 fights and in 2007, he participated in the Commonwealth Championships. The following year, he won the 2008 Strandya Cup after defeating Cuban boxer Carlos Banteux. He also earned a spot at the Beijing Olympics of 2008, following his triumph over Pavol Hlavacka in the semi-finals of the qualifiers to finish in the third position. At the Olympics, he reached the second round of the competition before he was knocked out by Carlos Banteux. Towards the ending of 2008, Saunders turned pro and signed with Frank Warren as his manager.
Making his pro debut on February 28, 2009, Billy Joe Saunders recorded his first victory over Attila Molnar at the National Indoor Arena. He also recorded same in his second and third fight against Ronny Gabel and Matt Scriven respectively. Saunders completed seven other fights which ended in a knockout victory; he fought against top stars including Norbert Szekeres, Kevin Hammond, Gary Boulden, and Tony Hill in 2011. He further clinched his first professional title at the Commonwealth regional middleweight championship in April 2012. Shortly after that, Saunders successfully defended the titled against Bradley Pryce in June and Jarrod Fletcher in September the same year.
The following year, he successfully defended the same title after he triumphed over Matthew Hall in March 2013. Later on, he defeated Gary O’Sullivan in July and John Ryder in September to retain the regional title. In 2014, he participated in the European middleweight championship where he emerged victorious after beating Emmanuele Blandamura and Chris Eubank Jr.
In 2015, Saunders defeated the WBO middleweight titleholder Andy Lee to record his first world middleweight title in July 2015. He successfully defended the title against Max Bursak in April 2016 and Artur Akavov in October of the same year. Saunders equally defended the title for the second time in September 2017 when he defeated Monroe Jr in a fight held at the Copper Box Arena situated in London. His third title defense was against David Lemieux; Saunders beat Lemieux with his big power shots to retain his middleweight title. Saunders has been anticipating a big fight against Gennady Golovkin and currently, he is scheduled to fight Demetrius Andrade on October 20, 2018. The fight will be held at the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts.
His Height, Weight, And Body Stats
Billy Joe Saunders has remained unbeaten since the inception of his professional boxing career; all thanks to his top-notch skills and resilience. A quick glance would show you that the middleweight champion has a well-built body and a great physique. In addition to that, he is a very resilient fighter who can compete with any given sphere of competition. He is not so tall but with a good height of 5 feet 9 inches (1.80 m); Saunders still does a great job in the ring. He has a commensurate body weight of 74 kg. His chest-waist-biceps and feet sizes are currently not available. He has light brown eyes and hair of the same color.
