Promoters Eye of the Tiger Management and Golden Boy Promotions brought WBO Middleweight champion southpaw Bill Joe “Superb” Saunders, from Hatfield, UK, to Ontario, Canada to defend his title for the third time against hard punching former IBF champion David Lemieux, of Montreal, Quebec, Canada, his No. 1 contender. It was the first time Saunders has fought outside the UK and over HBO. He boxed circles around Lemieux and played with him over the entire 12 rounds.

WBO Middleweight Champion southpaw Billy Joe Saunders, 26-0 (12), of Sheffield, UK, easily defeated former IBF champion David Lemieux, 38-4 (33), of Montreal, Quebec, Canada, over 12 rounds,.

In the first round Saunders landed the first effective punches a 3-punch combination on Lemieux. Saunders moves well than comes in to mix it with Lemieux who hasn’t been able to land anything of substance. In the second round Saunders completely out boxed Lemieux. With ten seconds left in the round Saunders landed half a dozen unanswered punches starting with a solid left to the head of Lemieux.

In the third round Saunders drew boo’s from the crowd for showboating but doing it effectively. Lemieux hasn’t been able to cut the ring off. Lemieux with ten seconds to go in the round landed a pair of left hooks to the head of Saunders. In the fourth round Lemieux landed a right to the head of Saunders that brought cheers from the crowd. Saunders landed a good lead left to the head of Lemieux. Saunders ended the round with several straight lead lefts to the head of Lemieux.

In the fifth round Saunders landed a solid lead left to the chin of Lemieux. Lemieux misses while Saunders mocks him looking up in the air with a glove over his forehead as if “what happened?” In the sixth round Saunders landed an overhand left to the head of Lemieux. Half a round later Saunders did it again. He’s too quick a foot and hand for Lemieux. Lemieux landed the last punch of the round a right to the head of Saunders.

In the seventh round Saunders rocked Lemieux with a right hook to the chin. Saunders stands in front of Lemieux and landed a left to the nose of Lemieux drawing blood from the nose. Saunders landed a 4-punch combination on Lemieux. A Saunders right hook rocked Lemieux with seconds to go in the round. In the eighth round Saunders continues to box a smart fight easily beating the local favorite. As the bell ended the round and Lemieux started to walk to his corner Saunders followed him with his eyes like “what are you going to do?”

In the ninth round Saunder’s continues to embarrass Lemieux by out boxing and out punching him. Saunder’s landed a 3-punch combination with Lemieux landing a counter right to the head. In the tenth round Saunders continues to silent the home crowd of Lemieux boxing circles around him and continued to do the same in the eleventh round. In the twelfth and final round it was all Saunders.

“I really wanted to put it on him but lost him. I want GGG to fight me now and hit air,” said Saunders.

Judges Gerardo Martinez scored it 117-111, Phil Edwards 118-110 and Benoit Rousse had it 120-108 as did this writer have it 120-108.

Former WBO Inter-Continental Middleweight champion Antoine “Action” Douglas, 22-2-1 (16), of DC, was stopped by Gary “Spike” O’Sullivan, 22-2 (16), of Cork, IRE, for the vacant WBO Inter-Continental title, at 1:03 of the seventh round.

In the first round Douglas landed several left hooks to the body of O’Sullivan. O’Sullivan halfway through the round landed a right to the head of Douglas. Douglas seemed to have his way countering O’Sullivan. Douglas landed several 3-punch combinations while O’Sullivan didn’t land much more than his jab. In the second round the aggressive O’Sullivan mixed it up with the countering Douglas through the first half of the round. Under a minute after taking a beating O’Sullivan finally landed a good pair of right hands to the head of Douglas.

In the third round both boxers mixed it up with Douglas coming out on top. His speed and power has overwhelmed O’Sullivan. Douglas landed a double left hook to the body of O’Sullivan. In the fourth round Douglas continued out landing O’Sullivan. At the halfway mark O’Sullivan got several good punches in on Douglas but got countered immediately. O’Sullivan landed a solid left hook knocking back the head of Douglas who countered with his own left hook to the head. It was O’Sullivan’s best round but not good enough.

In the fifth round a lead right from O’Sullivan to the chin of Douglas who shrugged it off. Douglas continued out landing but took some good right hands from O’Sullivan who may have taken the round. In the sixth round Douglas is landing 3-1 punch wise but has taken some hard rights to the head.

In the seventh round O’Sullivan land close to half a dozen punches while Douglas was against the ropes and dropped Douglas. When Douglas got up he was on unsteady legs and obviously not able to continue.

Welterweight Cletis “Hebrew Hammer” Seldin, 21-1 (17), of Long Island, NY, lost to a running Yves Ulysse, Jr., 15-1 (9), of Montreal, Quebec, Canada, over 10 terrible rounds due to the style of Ulysse.

In the first round Ulysse opens up with a combination as Seldin is ducking low dodging most punches. Ulysse missed with a left and connected with the right on the neck and knocked down Seldin. Seldin got up and started chasing Ulysse. Seldin motioned for Ulysse to stop running and got reprimanded by the French referee yet allowed Ulysse to run around the ring never telling him to stop running. In the second round Ulysee stopped running then a jab fell short but a right landed and dropped Seldin again hitting him on the back of the head. Seldin was up and chasing Ulysse again finally landing a left hook to the head of Ulysee but was countered with a right.

In the third round Ulysse landed a left hook followed by a right uppercut to the chin of Seldin. There was little action otherwise with Seldin chasing a track star in Ulysse with the fourth round identical. Why Seldin’s people agreed to fight this “road runner” is beyond me. In the fifth round just under a minute left Seldin finally landed a right to the chin of Ulysse who immediately started running around the ring again. The round was close since few punches were landed.

In the sixth round Seldin landed a pair of rights to the body followed by a jab to the head of Ulysse. Ulysse uses a football “straight arm” ala Larry Holmes and the referee never warns him. Ulysse landed a combination at the end of the round to the head of Seldin. In the seventh round the fans finally complained about the running of Ulysse. The referee brought both fighters in and asked if they wanted to fight. Seldin landed his best punch a right to the head when Ulysse finally stopped. Shortly later Ulysse landed a right over a jab to the head of Seldin.

In the eighth round Ulysse landed a 3-punch combination then took off. Seldin on several occasions landed some body punches when Ulysse stood still. In the ninth round Ulysse didn’t run as much and “pop shotted” Seldin with right hands to the head. In the tenth and final round Ulysse started running again with Seldin not able to cut off the ring. Seldin turned to southpaw and back which he had done several times during the bout.

All three judges had it 99-89 while this writer gave Seldin credit for “aggression” 97-92. Ulysse stunk out the joint with his hit and run style.