Billy Joe Saunders Has Plenty of Options, but Isn't Ready for the Elite Just Yet

Billy Joe Saunders did just enough to dethrone Andy Lee and seize his WBO middleweight title at the Manchester Arena in England on Saturday night. He proved he’s a solid fighter but still a ways off from competing with the elite of his division.

His win upset a few apple carts, as Lee was expected to be the next opponent for Showtime’s new star Daniel Jacobs early next year, but it also put the icing on the cake of what has been an impressive year for boxing in the United Kingdom.

The stats speak for themselves.

The UK ends the year with 12 world champions spread throughout nine weight divisions, and of those, eight captured their titles within the past calendar year.

None was bigger than Tyson Fury’s stunning upset of long-reigning heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko in November, but you can also add James DeGale, Liam Smith, Lee Selby, Anthony Crolla and now Saunders (among others) to that list.

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12 World Champions for  at the end of 2015.... Who many will we have this time next year pic.twitter.com/nIp1H1tsIS

— Boxmad UK (@boxmadUK) December 21, 2015"

Saunders’ win wasn’t pretty. There was nothing exciting or even really interesting about a fight between two bitter rivals that saw 11 rounds of posturing and dancing wrapped around a third round that saw Lee hit the deck twice without Saunders capitalizing.

Neither man fought with any real urgency.

Saunders conserved his energy (he’s had stamina issues in the past) to the point that you could honestly wonder whether he felt the fight had actually ended with the knockdowns, and Lee never placed much sustained pressure on Saunders to get even on the scorecards.

Both guys raised their hands in victory after 12 not-so-hard-fought rounds, and you got the sense that this was one of those fights where the judges wish they had a “none of the above” option for scoring rounds.

The official tallies favored Saunders by scores of 115-111 and 114-112 (with the knockdowns making up the margin) and a 113-113 draw, which seemed fair since neither man looked much like a convincing winner.

Nobody, short of perhaps Lee himself, is more upset with the outcome than Jacobs, who blitzed through former titlist Peter Quillin a few weeks ago at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, and was hoping for a lucrative showdown that would draw well in New York City. 

Dave Thompson/Getty Images

Lee’s Irish fanbase in New York City would’ve combined nicely with Jacobs’ hometown following to create box-office gold, which was why Showtime picked up Lee-Saunders as a showcase in the first place. But that won’t come to pass now.

Saunders is a very solid technical fighter, and he has the look and feel of a guy who can be a draw in the UK as a domestic-level champion. But he seems like he would be outclassed on a world level by elite fighters.

Based on Saturday night, would you pen him in to even be competitive against Gennady Golovkin—lineal titles be damned—in a bout to determine the best fighter in the division?

What about Canelo Alvarez?

Per Isaac Robinson of Sky Sports, Saunders has made it known that Canelo and Miguel Cotto will top his list of potential opponents in the new year once he’s had a good Christmas rest to recharge.

Saunders says he’d be willing to come to the United States for those fights, particularly Cotto, but he’d be a pretty sizable underdog against both men.

Jacobs, based on his big punching power, would likewise be the favorite if he met Saunders in place of Lee next year.

One fight, perhaps surprisingly, that doesn’t seem to interest Saunders very much is one that could make him a good deal of money and present him with an opportunity to solidify his hold on his title and growing fanbase.

Chris Eubank Jr. currently sits as the mandatory challenger for Jacobs’ title, but his promoter Eddie Hearn was noticeably cool to the idea of staging that bout in the near future, per Boxing Scene. He'd prefer to build his fighter as a major domestic draw.

That's if he even retains him, as reports seem to indicate that the Eubanks will be severing their contract with Hearn, per Jeff Powell of the Daily Mail.

It’s no secret that Saunders and Eubank aren’t exactly fond of each other, which means a rematch (their first bout went to Saunders via split decision in 2014) for a title could be a big moneymaker in the UK.

Maybe he’s serious, or maybe he’s just trolling an old rival, but Saunders doesn’t seem terribly interested and just a tad annoyed that Eubank’s name is being floated as an opponent.

“Eubank is fighting people I beat two years ago. Let him go down the WBA route. Let him go and fight Daniel Jacobs. Don't get mandatory for a world title, thinking you're world level and then go back to fight for the British,” Saunders said, per Robinson, of Eubank's last fight.

“He'll never be world champion. He relies on work rate. He's not good enough.”

That echoes comments made earlier by Saunders’ promoter Frank Warren, who basically said a rematch was on the table for Eubank months ago but he declined, per the Daily Mail.

“Eubank could have had a rematch about three or four months ago but he chose not to do so so we just moved on and Bill has now won the title and can sit back and consider a lot of options,” Warren said.

Options are always what you want as a fighter.

Saunders certainly has plenty, from domestic to international challenges, as the latest in what has become a long line of UK fighters to collect world titles.