BILLY JOE SAUNDERS put on a Montreal masterclass to retain his WBO middleweight title in the early hours of this morning.
The undefeated traveller danced his way to a clear points victory much to the dismay of the 10,000 David Lemieux fans who packed in to watch their guy take a beating at the Place Bell.
It was the type of performance that the gifted southpaw, who went to the Olympics as a teenager, has been threatening for his eight years as a pro.
As such, one judge even scored him a 120-108 shutout victory while the other totals of 117-111 118-110 secured a clear victory
Saunders has over hauled his life during 2017 and relocated to Sheffield to train under Dominic Ingle.
It has means the 28-year-old now lives in the attic of Kid Galahad’s house well away from the distractions of London.
He won his first outing since linking up with Ingle when he outpointed Willie Monroe Jr in September without ever dazzling.
But Saunders promised to be at his best here in the Montreal suburb of Laval, where he trousered the highest pay day of his career – and he lived up to his promise.
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A healthy chunk of his £1.5m purse was generated by ticket sales in the brand-new Place Bell, where around 12,000 fans packed in to watch local star Lemieux attempt to win the world middleweight title for the second time.
They booed every time Saunders’ face was shown on the big screen and then then throughout his ring walk to Jay Z’s Run This Town.
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But Saunders seemed to thrive off the jeers and started quickly, dancing in and out and picking Lemieux off with his jab.
The southpaw in the golden gloves continued the tactics in the second round and was leaving Lemieux punching thin air.
He even threw in a Muhammad Ali shuffle midway through the session before finishing on the front foot with a crunching straight left hand.
But the challenger seemed to be getting ever closer in the third and fourth but Saunders was still gliding out of trouble holding his hands low.
When the HBO cameras showed Saunders’ young son Stevie, who infamously punched Monroe in the crown jewels at their weigh-in in September, he was booed by the crowd.
And they booed even louder as Saunders continued to frustrate the Montreal man by circling the ring well away from trouble.
He even had time to look out into the crowd after casually slipping a huge right hand from Lemieux.
But the champion switched up the pace in the seventh round and began to land more hurtful shots as he took control of centre ring.
Lemieux was running out of ideas fast and was getting jabbed hard every time he closed the distance.
He gave it a go in the 10th round – for about 10 seconds – and was punished by Saunders who clipped him with a right uppercut.
There were more boos for Saunders Jr as he danced on the big screen at the end of the round with his old man almost home and hosed.
Lemieux chucked the kitchen sink at the champ in the last two rounds but he was still only chasing shadows.
The crowd kept up the jeers as the scorecards were announced but Saunders said: “I know you’re booing me because I whooped your fighter’s ass but that’s boxing.
“I know what sort of fighter David Lemieux is and I knew what was coming for me.
“I look easy to hit but you can’t hit me.
“This time last year I was an absolute disgrace in Scotland but I’ll never be like that again.
“Merry Christmas everyone.”
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