Saunders: I'm Not Really Worried If I Box Again; Maybe One More for the Fans

[JWA31]

Saunders: I'm Not Really Worried If I Box Again; Maybe One More for the Fans

Billy Joe Saunders has one foot outside the boxing ring.

The two-division titleholder says he would have no qualms hanging up the gloves for good. It’s not hard to see why. Saunders made a career high pay day in his last fight, an eighth-round stoppage loss to Canelo Alvarez in their super middleweight unification title bout last May at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Saunders, of course, did not come out completely unscathed; he wound up with a broken orbital bone in his right eye from the fight and is still waiting for it to completely heal.

“I’m not really worried if I box again,” Saunders told IFL TV. “Not really worried at all. If I don’t ever box again it don’t really bother me. I’ve got good people around me, I’ve invested my money well. I’m not really worried.”

Saunders (30-1, 14 KOs) says he has another medical check up for his eye at the end of the year. The 32-year-old native of Hertfordshire, England admits it is getting increasingly difficult to muster up the willpower to go into another training camp. Saunders picked up the WBO middleweight title with a victory over Andy Lee in 2015. In 2019, he earned the WBO super middleweight title with a points win over Shefat Isufi.

“Obviously, people miss the buzz and being around the game, but I just feel sometimes when you’re in the game and you’re not getting up for certain things and you’re getting injuries occurring, it’s very hard to give your life away to camp because I have to go away for camp six, seven weeks at a time,” Saunders said. “I take myself out of comfort zones when I train. But you lose your will to do that.”

Saunders says that at this point in his career he would only be motivated to come back to the sport for a big fight, like an Alvarez rematch. Recently, fellow Brit Chris Eubank Jr. called out Saunders to a rematch – Saunders defeated Eubank on points in 2014 – but there does not seem to be enough money in that fight to satisfy both parties. Nevertheless, he is intrigued by giving the fans one more fight.

“There are certain fights that could get you up to do that,” Saunders said. “Obviously, I’m far away from the Canelo rematch, but I could get up to do that. Another couple of big fights. They have to be the right fights because I’m not interested in being a three-weight world champion anymore. If I’m going to go come I’ll do one more for the crowd, for the fans, entertain them, and go out on that note.”

Fans?

[THEBUTCH]

Did I hear someone suggest David Benavidez as an opponent

BJS wouldn't touch Benevidez with a 10 foot barge pole. Benevidez would rip him apart

[Cyclops]

I was at Fury Chisora 2 where he beat Eubanks, and BJS does have fans, but they don't pay to get in.

Lol did they storm past security? I heard that show was a horror story with people pissing up against the wall , smoking , gear everywhere.

The bar and toilets were miles away from the actual fight, so we all loaded up on beers to go in. When we got there, they wouldn't let us in with the beers, so we all had to down the four pints we were carrying each. This meant that, if we needed a piss during the action, we were all completely wasted and had to walk all the way over to the other side of the Excel- basically an area larger than the arena itself away- so even a refined gentleman like me was heavily under the influence and pissing in empty pint glasses and putting them under the seat. Other chaps, less refined than me, were just pissing under the bleachers or basically where they stood: everyone was forced to get wasted before they were allowed to step foot inside.

Cocaine, the drug of choice at boxing (whether you like it or not) is done, wherever possible, in a toilet cubicle. As access to toilets was made as difficult as possible without doing away with them altogether, the arena was full of incredibly drunk people openly doing cocaine left and right. So you just had people pissing and snorting coke everywhere. As the security had nowhere near the muscle or the numbers to curb this, everybody that smoked just lit up as well.

There was no big screen, and the seating wasn't really tiered, so you had a crap view of the fights. This was the icing on the cake for a very heavily intoxicated, unhappy crowd. The crowning glory however was that, as Fwank shows seem to go, the undercard lasted so long that the main event happened so late into the night that everybody missed their last train home, unless they left early. WE left before Chisora gave up in the corner, and still had to get a night bus to Canning Town (which even I'm quite scared of) before finding a cab.

Amongst the rivers of piss, clouds of tobacco and cannabis smoke, and open drug use, it's no secret that people who had paid for the decent seats found big groups of chaps among a certain demographic sitting in their seats, and swearing on their best chicken's eyesight that they weren't moving, forcing people to stand in the isles and watch the fights rather than take a chunky sovereign to the eye. The security were by this point well aware they were massively outgunned and weren't going to tell anybody to move, so it was essentially lawless. At least 80% of the people there should have been thrown out for their infractions (including, I have to admit, me and my mates): but it was a seething, absolutely nutted, bored and pissed off crowd, best left alone. They shrank back and let the whole thing resolve itself.

It was the worst boxing live event I ever went to. I don't, however, recall seeing a single fight in the crowd, whereas every other boxing match I've been to I'm sure it's kicked off at some point. But it was a grim, seedy night for sure.

[dookus]

I was at Fury Chisora 2 where he beat Eubanks, and BJS does have fans, but they don't pay to get in.

Lol did they storm past security? I heard that show was a horror story with people pissing up against the wall , smoking , gear everywhere.

The bar and toilets were miles away from the actual fight, so we all loaded up on beers to go in. When we got there, they wouldn't let us in with the beers, so we all had to down the four pints we were carrying each. This meant that, if we needed a piss during the action, we were all completely wasted and had to walk all the way over to the other side of the Excel- basically an area larger than the arena itself away- so even a refined gentleman like me was heavily under the influence and pissing in empty pint glasses and putting them under the seat. Other chaps, less refined than me, were just pissing under the bleachers or basically where they stood: everyone was forced to get wasted before they were allowed to step foot inside.

Cocaine, the drug of choice at boxing (whether you like it or not) is done, wherever possible, in a toilet cubicle. As access to toilets was made as difficult as possible without doing away with them altogether, the arena was full of incredibly drunk people openly doing cocaine left and right. So you just had people pissing and snorting coke everywhere. As the security had nowhere near the muscle or the numbers to curb this, everybody that smoked just lit up as well.

There was no big screen, and the seating wasn't really tiered, so you had a crap view of the fights. This was the icing on the cake for a very heavily intoxicated, unhappy crowd. The crowning glory however was that, as Fwank shows seem to go, the undercard lasted so long that the main event happened so late into the night that everybody missed their last train home, unless they left early. WE left before Chisora gave up in the corner, and still had to get a night bus to Canning Town (which even I'm quite scared of) before finding a cab.

Amongst the rivers of piss, clouds of tobacco and cannabis smoke, and open drug use, it's no secret that people who had paid for the decent seats found big groups of chaps among a certain demographic sitting in their seats, and swearing on their best chicken's eyesight that they weren't moving, forcing people to stand in the isles and watch the fights rather than take a chunky sovereign to the eye. The security were by this point well aware they were massively outgunned and weren't going to tell anybody to move, so it was essentially lawless. At least 80% of the people there should have been thrown out for their infractions (including, I have to admit, me and my mates): but it was a seething, absolutely nutted, bored and pissed off crowd, best left alone. They shrank back and let the whole thing resolve itself.

It was the worst boxing live event I ever went to. I don't, however, recall seeing a single fight in the crowd, whereas every other boxing match I've been to I'm sure it's kicked off at some point. But it was a grim, seedy night for sure.

Amazing. Apart from the night itself, of course

[Cyclops]

Lol did they storm past security? I heard that show was a horror story with people pissing up against the wall , smoking , gear everywhere.

The bar and toilets were miles away from the actual fight, so we all loaded up on beers to go in. When we got there, they wouldn't let us in with the beers, so we all had to down the four pints we were carrying each. This meant that, if we needed a piss during the action, we were all completely wasted and had to walk all the way over to the other side of the Excel- basically an area larger than the arena itself away- so even a refined gentleman like me was heavily under the influence and pissing in empty pint glasses and putting them under the seat. Other chaps, less refined than me, were just pissing under the bleachers or basically where they stood: everyone was forced to get wasted before they were allowed to step foot inside.

Cocaine, the drug of choice at boxing (whether you like it or not) is done, wherever possible, in a toilet cubicle. As access to toilets was made as difficult as possible without doing away with them altogether, the arena was full of incredibly drunk people openly doing cocaine left and right. So you just had people pissing and snorting coke everywhere. As the security had nowhere near the muscle or the numbers to curb this, everybody that smoked just lit up as well.

There was no big screen, and the seating wasn't really tiered, so you had a crap view of the fights. This was the icing on the cake for a very heavily intoxicated, unhappy crowd. The crowning glory however was that, as Fwank shows seem to go, the undercard lasted so long that the main event happened so late into the night that everybody missed their last train home, unless they left early. WE left before Chisora gave up in the corner, and still had to get a night bus to Canning Town (which even I'm quite scared of) before finding a cab.

Amongst the rivers of piss, clouds of tobacco and cannabis smoke, and open drug use, it's no secret that people who had paid for the decent seats found big groups of chaps among a certain demographic sitting in their seats, and swearing on their best chicken's eyesight that they weren't moving, forcing people to stand in the isles and watch the fights rather than take a chunky sovereign to the eye. The security were by this point well aware they were massively outgunned and weren't going to tell anybody to move, so it was essentially lawless. At least 80% of the people there should have been thrown out for their infractions (including, I have to admit, me and my mates): but it was a seething, absolutely nutted, bored and pissed off crowd, best left alone. They shrank back and let the whole thing resolve itself.

It was the worst boxing live event I ever went to. I don't, however, recall seeing a single fight in the crowd, whereas every other boxing match I've been to I'm sure it's kicked off at some point. But it was a grim, seedy night for sure.

Amazing. Apart from the night itself, of course

It was just really badly organised. I went and watched the Olympic boxing in the same venue and they had the toilets inside the arena then, so I don't know why they put them so far away. Then the bar was next to the toilets, again miles away from the entrance, and they were happy to let us buy a load of beers each so that would ensure we wouldn't miss any action by retreat trips to the bar, only for them to tell us we weren't allowed to take them in. So people either ditched them or, naturally, decided they'd paid good money for it and gamely tried to neck it all before going in. If you sip 4 beers over the course of an evening, you're fine. But if you down four pints in about 10 minutes, unless you're from Newcastle, you're drunk. They weren't proper security from memory, just sort of stewards. I never saw anybody pushing in but eventually we all had beers in there so I'm sure if people were so inclined they could have just strolled past the stewards and I believe that is what happened.

Fwank is awful at organising live events. Say what you like about Matchroom, they can organise an event and you'll get home etc. From my experience, Warren shows never sell out, there's sometimes somebody in your seat who you have to ask to move, and you can end up finding yourself in better seating because there isn't anybody there, and they always go on far too late. The Dubois-Gorman card was the only one I can recall where everything went without a hitch.

[Counter-puncher]

I don't, however, recall seeing a single fight in the crowd,

that is the most eye-popping thing you wrote, there. astonishing, given the circumstances.

[dookus]

The bar and toilets were miles away from the actual fight, so we all loaded up on beers to go in. When we got there, they wouldn't let us in with the beers, so we all had to down the four pints we were carrying each. This meant that, if we needed a piss during the action, we were all completely wasted and had to walk all the way over to the other side of the Excel- basically an area larger than the arena itself away- so even a refined gentleman like me was heavily under the influence and pissing in empty pint glasses and putting them under the seat. Other chaps, less refined than me, were just pissing under the bleachers or basically where they stood: everyone was forced to get wasted before they were allowed to step foot inside.

Cocaine, the drug of choice at boxing (whether you like it or not) is done, wherever possible, in a toilet cubicle. As access to toilets was made as difficult as possible without doing away with them altogether, the arena was full of incredibly drunk people openly doing cocaine left and right. So you just had people pissing and snorting coke everywhere. As the security had nowhere near the muscle or the numbers to curb this, everybody that smoked just lit up as well.

There was no big screen, and the seating wasn't really tiered, so you had a crap view of the fights. This was the icing on the cake for a very heavily intoxicated, unhappy crowd. The crowning glory however was that, as Fwank shows seem to go, the undercard lasted so long that the main event happened so late into the night that everybody missed their last train home, unless they left early. WE left before Chisora gave up in the corner, and still had to get a night bus to Canning Town (which even I'm quite scared of) before finding a cab.

Amongst the rivers of piss, clouds of tobacco and cannabis smoke, and open drug use, it's no secret that people who had paid for the decent seats found big groups of chaps among a certain demographic sitting in their seats, and swearing on their best chicken's eyesight that they weren't moving, forcing people to stand in the isles and watch the fights rather than take a chunky sovereign to the eye. The security were by this point well aware they were massively outgunned and weren't going to tell anybody to move, so it was essentially lawless. At least 80% of the people there should have been thrown out for their infractions (including, I have to admit, me and my mates): but it was a seething, absolutely nutted, bored and pissed off crowd, best left alone. They shrank back and let the whole thing resolve itself.

It was the worst boxing live event I ever went to. I don't, however, recall seeing a single fight in the crowd, whereas every other boxing match I've been to I'm sure it's kicked off at some point. But it was a grim, seedy night for sure.

Amazing. Apart from the night itself, of course

It was just really badly organised. I went and watched the Olympic boxing in the same venue and they had the toilets inside the arena then, so I don't know why they put them so far away. Then the bar was next to the toilets, again miles away from the entrance, and they were happy to let us buy a load of beers each so that would ensure we wouldn't miss any action by retreat trips to the bar, only for them to tell us we weren't allowed to take them in. So people either ditched them or, naturally, decided they'd paid good money for it and gamely tried to neck it all before going in. If you sip 4 beers over the course of an evening, you're fine. But if you down four pints in about 10 minutes, unless you're from Newcastle, you're drunk. They weren't proper security from memory, just sort of stewards. I never saw anybody pushing in but eventually we all had beers in there so I'm sure if people were so inclined they could have just strolled past the stewards and I believe that is what happened.

Fwank is awful at organising live events. Say what you like about Matchroom, they can organise an event and you'll get home etc. From my experience, Warren shows never sell out, there's sometimes somebody in your seat who you have to ask to move, and you can end up finding yourself in better seating because there isn't anybody there, and they always go on far too late. The Dubois-Gorman card was the only one I can recall where everything went without a hitch.

On the plus side, it did yield an excellent piece of Hunter S Thompson-esque writing from you. In twenty years' time, boxing historians will use it as a primary source for the decay of boxing in the 2010s. If they read Boxrec, anyway

[high tower 1]

Imagine going there for date night

[Counter-puncher]

Imagine going there for date night

ha. You mention that, my pal didn't go to this on a date night but he is a teacher at a private school and he went along with a couple of his mates (who I would very much assume are similarly middle class if not more so, I mean Mike is a massive rugby lad who worked as a bouncer all through Uni but all his mates are veeeery middle class), and to say the least I think they were a little scarred by the experience.

Not sure if the overall moodiness of the atmosphere inside the arena, or the fvck ups missing last buses after it finished, were the main things. He was obviously totally headfvked by people pissing on stairways.

anyway, they absolutely won'#t be going to boxing ever again

[high tower 1]

Imagine going there for date night

ha. You mention that, my pal didn't go to this on a date night but he is a teacher at a private school and he went along with a couple of his mates (who I would very much assume are similarly middle class if not more so, I mean Mike is a massive rugby lad who worked as a bouncer all through Uni but all his mates are veeeery middle class), and to say the least I think they were a little scarred by the experience.

Not sure if the overall moodiness of the atmosphere inside the arena, or the fvck ups missing last buses after it finished, were the main things. He was obviously totally headfvked by people pissing on stairways.

anyway, they absolutely won'#t be going to boxing ever again

Wild isn’t it. I hope he didn’t buy one of the expensive seats !

I had a look on boxrec and that event had an outstanding undercard. Big frank loaded it up.

[Counter-puncher]

Imagine going there for date night

ha. You mention that, my pal didn't go to this on a date night but he is a teacher at a private school and he went along with a couple of his mates (who I would very much assume are similarly middle class if not more so, I mean Mike is a massive rugby lad who worked as a bouncer all through Uni but all his mates are veeeery middle class), and to say the least I think they were a little scarred by the experience.

Not sure if the overall moodiness of the atmosphere inside the arena, or the fvck ups missing last buses after it finished, were the main things. He was obviously totally headfvked by people pissing on stairways.

anyway, they absolutely won'#t be going to boxing ever again

Wild isn’t it. I hope he didn’t buy one of the expensive seats !

I had a look on boxrec and that event had an outstanding undercard. Big frank loaded it up.

they only got to see the Saunders fight i think

so it was that, then 2 hours watching gypsies piss in public, then out onto the mean streets of london without transport.

there's an advert for a night at the boxing

[Boxerbeetle]

Imagine going there for date night

ha. You mention that, my pal didn't go to this on a date night but he is a teacher at a private school and he went along with a couple of his mates (who I would very much assume are similarly middle class if not more so, I mean Mike is a massive rugby lad who worked as a bouncer all through Uni but all his mates are veeeery middle class), and to say the least I think they were a little scarred by the experience.

Not sure if the overall moodiness of the atmosphere inside the arena, or the fvck ups missing last buses after it finished, were the main things. He was obviously totally headfvked by people pissing on stairways.

anyway, they absolutely won'#t be going to boxing ever again

I took my missus to Williams - Corcoran when she was about 6 months pregnant and, as you may recall, it absolutely kicked off big-time during the main event. My parents were kindly babysitting our oldest child at my house whilst we were out and so were watching on B0xnati0n, apparently my mum was slightly worried when they switched the arena lights on mid-fight to give security a better chance of putting down the troublemakers

Naturally if I’d have been attending on my own, I would have been jumping right into the middle of things, but circumstances dictated that I had to stay out of it.

[Counter-puncher]

i knew he was going so i phoned him the next day to see if he enjoyed it

i actually felt guilty on behalf of boxing, that they were so shocked by it all

[high tower 1]

Imagine going there for date night

ha. You mention that, my pal didn't go to this on a date night but he is a teacher at a private school and he went along with a couple of his mates (who I would very much assume are similarly middle class if not more so, I mean Mike is a massive rugby lad who worked as a bouncer all through Uni but all his mates are veeeery middle class), and to say the least I think they were a little scarred by the experience.

Not sure if the overall moodiness of the atmosphere inside the arena, or the fvck ups missing last buses after it finished, were the main things. He was obviously totally headfvked by people pissing on stairways.

anyway, they absolutely won'#t be going to boxing ever again

I took my missus to Williams - Corcoran when she was about 6 months pregnant and, as you may recall, it absolutely kicked off big-time during the main event. My parents were kindly babysitting our oldest child at my house whilst we were out and so were watching on B0xnati0n, apparently my mum was slightly worried when they switched the arena lights on mid-fight to give security a better chance of putting down the troublemakers

Naturally if I’d have been attending on my own, I would have been jumping right into the middle of things, but circumstances dictated that I had to stay out of it.

You’re a brave man taking your pregnant missus to a pro boxing match !

Part of the fun of a fight is laughing at the drunk idiots acting up. I love the York hall bar , it can be like a Wild West saloon some nights. Imagine the amount of big Ko’s that bad has seen over the last 40years!

[bigjack]

I went to a show at the MEN arena,can't remember who was fighting but a fella in the crowd literally turned round and broke a womans nose with a right hander,blood everywhere.

[jamesmcdonnell]

I remember going to Watch Hatton v Pendleton, crowd was rough as arseholes, loads of coked up pissed scallywags everywhere.

When I left the Arena, it was like the wild west, there were groups of people brawling in the streets all over the shop, a lot of them seemed to be mates who just got so battered they started kicking lumps out of each other.

I saw one lad threaten to 'Fckin drop kick yer ya Paki coont' to some poor Japanese lady who wandered into the taxi queue,

Total bedlam - the helmet quotient was very high that night.

[jamesmcdonnell]

ha. You mention that, my pal didn't go to this on a date night but he is a teacher at a private school and he went along with a couple of his mates (who I would very much assume are similarly middle class if not more so, I mean Mike is a massive rugby lad who worked as a bouncer all through Uni but all his mates are veeeery middle class), and to say the least I think they were a little scarred by the experience.

Not sure if the overall moodiness of the atmosphere inside the arena, or the fvck ups missing last buses after it finished, were the main things. He was obviously totally headfvked by people pissing on stairways.

anyway, they absolutely won'#t be going to boxing ever again

I took my missus to Williams - Corcoran when she was about 6 months pregnant and, as you may recall, it absolutely kicked off big-time during the main event. My parents were kindly babysitting our oldest child at my house whilst we were out and so were watching on B0xnati0n, apparently my mum was slightly worried when they switched the arena lights on mid-fight to give security a better chance of putting down the troublemakers

Naturally if I’d have been attending on my own, I would have been jumping right into the middle of things, but circumstances dictated that I had to stay out of it.

Yeah, loads of coked up Morons at York Hall, I've been to a few shows there that were bristling with Menace.

A lot of young lads who go to boxing think they're dead hard.

You’re a brave man taking your pregnant missus to a pro boxing match !

Part of the fun of a fight is laughing at the drunk idiots acting up. I love the York hall bar , it can be like a Wild West saloon some nights. Imagine the amount of big Ko’s that bad has seen over the last 40years!

[CMDY]

I'd like to see him fight Chris Eubank Jr again.
I used to be a fan, but his antics put me off unfortunately. I previously went to Manchester to see him beat Andy Lee, though got 2 free tickets from the BocksNation twitter - they hadn't sold the upper seats anyhow.

[keirw]

I'd like to see him fight Chris Eubank Jr again.
I used to be a fan, but his antics put me off unfortunately. I previously went to Manchester to see him beat Andy Lee, though got 2 free tickets from the BocksNation twitter - they hadn't sold the upper seats anyhow.

I imagine that is one of the few fights he could get up for

[bigjack]

I watched Bruno v Bugner at White Heart Lane,loads of fight in the crowd and someone let off a tear gas canister right by me,someone knocked him out on the spot,terrible night finished off by a trip on the tubes about 1am,scary night that was

[maverick23]

Looks like Billy Joe was in some bother last night. Just watched a video on Twitter of a guy who said his sons had it out with Billy Joe last night. Claims one of his sons beat up Billy Joe (doubtful but who knows) and Billy Joe stabbed him with though his hand and pulled a gun on him. The guy claims his sons were arrested after so no idea what’s true and what isn’t.

I find it amazing that even with all of the money he’s made in his career that he’s still getting involved with stuff like this.

[Ruthless-RKO]

Looks like Billy Joe was in some bother last night. Just watched a video on Twitter of a guy who said his sons had it out with Billy Joe last night. Claims one of his sons beat up Billy Joe (doubtful but who knows) and Billy Joe stabbed him with though his hand and pulled a gun on him. The guy claims his sons were arrested after so no idea what’s true and what isn’t.

I find it amazing that even with all of the money he’s made in his career that he’s still getting involved with stuff like this.

You able to tag the tweet here?

[maverick23]

[Wee Tommy]

Biggest bunch of grassing pudenda going. All over YouTube and twitter talking about what’s been done and by whom.

For all this shite about the traveler's being persecuted, they get away with anything.

What I’ve heard about this was a few weeks ago Billy Joe scudded and old man and got called to a straightener with the guys nephews. Apparently he backed out at first but now this. Some carry on.

[TopGun]

Im at work and cannot listen to the audio....what has Billy been doing now?!