Explore popular quotes and sayings by a British athlete Billy Joe Saunders.
Last updated on December 18, 2024.
Billy Joe Saunders is a British professional boxer. He has held world championships in two weight classes, including the WBO middleweight title from 2015 to 2018 and the WBO super-middleweight title from 2019 to May 2021. Saunders is the first boxer from the Travelling community to become a two-weight world champion. At regional level he held the European, British, and Commonwealth middleweight titles between 2012 and 2015. Saunders represented Great Britain at the 2008 Olympics as an amateur, reaching the second round of the welterweight bracket. In the same year, he won gold at the EU Championships.
I was only 18 and I'd be 22 if I was competing at London. I'm stronger and more experienced and I know I would have won gold.
I had a good chance when I went to Beijing and the guy who beat me, I'd beaten him three weeks before and he went on to win silver.
My trainer Jimmy Tibbs and my promoter Frank Warren told me that I had to be patient and get the jab going.
You've got to look and pick your shots - and that's where your class and skill comes out.
I'd always said that I'd like to have a title by the next Olympics, so this is a great opportunity, and could be the start of my climb to a world title.
I've had two fights within a month and I can't ask for more than that.
The Commonwealth is one of three belts I want to win before going for a world title.
People are starting to see that now and I've learnt more from those 10 rounds than I have in my previous 10 fights.
There's such a big buzz around boxing at the moment. Everything's happening and there's so much building up with a lot of young talent coming through.
But as an amateur, the highest level you can box at is the Olympics. I did that at 18 and felt it was time to move on to other challenges as a professional.
It is an honour to fight at the Royal Albert Hall.
I'm one of the best finishers in the business, so I went for it.
But my promoter Frank Warren knows what he is doing, and has been through this cycle many times with other fighters.
I'm fighting for the Commonwealth title on Saturday and I believe I'll be ready for a world title shot in the next 18 months.
Boxing has kept me off the streets, stops me smoking and drinking and gives me something to do.