Billy Joe Saunders
| Billy Joe Saunders | |
|---|---|
Saunders in 2011
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|
| Statistics | |
| Rated at | Middleweight |
| Height | 5 ft 11 in (180 cm) |
| Nationality | British |
| Born |
30 August 1989 Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, England |
| Stance | Southpaw |
| Boxing record | |
| Total fights | 24 |
| Wins | 24 |
| Wins by KO | 12 |
| Losses | 0 |
Billy Joe Saunders (born 30 August 1989) is a British professional boxer. He has held the WBO middleweight title since 2015, having previously held the British and Commonwealth middleweight titles from 2012 to 2015, and the European middleweight title from 2014 to 2015. As an amateur, Saunders represented Great Britain at the 2008 Olympics, reaching the second round of the welterweight bracket.
As of January 2017, Saunders is ranked as the world's fourth best middleweight by The Ring magazine, the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board, and BoxRec. He is also ranked as the second best middleweight in the UK by BoxRec.
Originally from Cheshunt, Saunders grew up in a Romanichal travelling community near Hatfield, Hertfordshire. His great-grandfather, Absolom Beeney, was one of the community's most famous bare-knuckle boxers. Billy Joe fought for Cheshunt Amateur Boxing club, overseen by Charlie Bliss, and also at Hoddesdon Amateur Boxing Club.
Saunders won his first 49 amateur fights at senior level, including the 2007 Commonwealth Championships and the 2008 Strandya Cup, edging out Cuban Carlos Banteux.
In 2008 Saunders qualified for the Beijing Olympics in the welterweight division at the age of 18. At the European area qualifier in Pescara, Italy he beat European champion Andrey Balanov and Kakhaber Zhvania, but lost in the semi-final to Oleksandr Stretskyy before beating Pavol Hlavačka for the all-important third spot. to become the first person from the British Romanichal community to qualify for the games.
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