Billie Jo on the decline?

First of all just to confirm, I am Shenglong and I’m back to try and get this forum a bit more active having read the recent “it’s dead in here” thread! It’s good to see some of the old faces still on here, and some new blood that may not know me, but it won’t take long until you do!

Having watched Billie Jo on Friday night I was disappointed. The version of Billie Jo that fought a punch perfect display over David Lemieux got people thinking, got people actually contemplating a win over Canelo may have been achievable.

Friday night put that theory to death. His inactivity has finally caught up with him. It was a battle of The Inactive v The Old Man. I don’t think Canelo will be too worried about what he seen.

Murray’s corner at one point said 3/4 more rounds and we will take you out of there, and I expect BJS would put his foot on and force a stoppage. He couldn’t do it against a 38 year old version of Murray.

Billie Jo would be best avoiding Canelo unless he can recapture that form, which for me would require a lot more activity...

Hey there Shenglong. Hope you're well.

Is Saunders on the decline, or was his performance against Murray just reflective of his level and what was to be expected, given what we've seen from him throughout his career? I'm leaning more towards the latter.

Saunders has a touch of the Witter, Herol Graham, Eastman etc. about him, for me. Talented, puts it together in spurts and for spells of a fight - but seldom for their entirety which results in fights which should be straightforward, or a chance for him to really shine, becoming a bit of a slog at times. He looked like he was going to totally run away with it early on against Eubank Jr. and Lee, but on both occasions ran out of steam a bit, couldn't step it up to really put the seal on it and ran the risk of coming a cropper.

There was the Lemieux fight, yes, but that was the exception, not the rule. I think there comes a point where you have to acknowledge the pattern with Saunders and say that he had the night of his life against Lemieux, but that was probably flattering to him as any fighter's career-best performance occasionally can be.

That said, I don't think it necessarily needs to be a sparkling performance to extend Canelo and give him a decent argument. Either way, though, I think we've probably seen the best of Saunders and his slightly underwhelming performance against Murray shouldn't really be a surprise. Nothing to be sniffed at as being undefeated after bagging a couple of alphabet titles is quite some going in and of itself. But I've felt for a while now that we've seen enough to decide his level - good fighter on the world stage, can mix it with the better guys out there, but not dining at the elite table and a definite underdog against the pound for pound operators.

It’s very quiet on these boards these days Chris, any idea how we can turn it around?

Get it buzzing like the old days?

Become a utuber and link your channel to this website for text discussion?

Hi Shenglong, I too am a returning poster, and tbh I prefer it now, there's less ganging up and pile ons, and whilst certain contributors were superficially civil, in my opinion, there was some pretty aggressive behaviour.
Let's hope we can agree to disagree and have some quality chat

I think Saunders has a touch of Lennox Lewis about him, in that if he has a less-than-stellar opponent in front of him, he fights down to their level. Look at the difference in Lewis' fights - against Mavrovic he seemed disinterested against a Euro-level fighter but compare that showing with his fights against Golota, a fighter who at the time had given Bowe all he could handle and also against Grant, the heavily hyped USA big hope - he really took both of them apart.

It must have been difficult for a fighter of Saunders' ability to get motivated against a fighter whose ability to actually win a World Title probably expired some 7 or 8 years ago. He knew he could beat Murray handily enough - I get the feeling that he just couldn't be bothered, especially given the deal to fight Canelo was almost done.

He's a slickster without a big punch and that's not always a good thing in the big fights, especially against someone with Canelo's abilities. We saw though with the Lemieux Fight that he was able to make an out and out puncher make heavy connections with nothing but thin air. However, he is 31 now, and no fighter can beat good ol' Father Time - he'll come a knocking eventually. If he's still got the skills, will he cash out against Canelo? Or will it be a unification against Smith if he actually beats the Mexican? Saunders' time is running out though.

Shengy a blast from the past.

Thought Saunders boxed well but within his comfort zone....Rusty with no opposition it's never easy to look good..

Like Lennox Lewis probably needs a challenge...

Leonard v Howard...Hearns v Medal sprang to mind when watching it..

Anyway welcome back.

Cheers Truss,

Was a little worried about how you’d react given our chequered past lol

But 9 years later and glad to be back pal