BILLY JOE SAUNDERS says his son inspired the Montreal masterclass which could leave him one win away from a place in boxing folklore.
The Brit was booed throughout his WBO middleweight clash with local Canadian star David Lemieux.
But Saunders shut them up by cruising to a unanimous points win with the best showing of his career.
And the undefeated traveller says the loudest voice in the crowd was that of his eight-year-old son Stevie, who has followed his dad throughout the fight build-up in Canada.
Now WBO champ Saunders, 28, is hoping the triumph will put him in line to face either Gennady Golovkin or Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez.
And he claims they will have trouble beating him if his kid is in attendance. He said: “I haven’t seen Stevie or my other children during this camp and I had my boy ringside, I was never going to let him see me lose, ever.
“I made myself pull it out of the bag for him as much as anyone.
“With him there by the side of me I was never going to lose.
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“There was all the booing and the jeering but I could hear my boy there over them all.
“When we walked out of the hotel room together before the fight, he said to me ‘dad, are we ready to go and smash this man up today?’
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“I said ‘yeah, we’re ready’. I knew we were ready. And I’m not saying I’m unbeatable but it takes something very special to beat me in front of one of my children.”
Stevie infamously punched one of Saunders’ previous opponents, Willie Monroe Jr, at their weigh-in back in September.
And the crowd inside the Place Bell in suburban Montreal even booed the kid when he was shown on the big screen between rounds.
But his dad added: “I didn’t notice them booing Stevie, I was in the corner focusing on what Dom was telling me.
“Listen, I’ve never heard a crowd so against me in my life but I came in the ring singing and I left singing.
“I knew what was going to happen, I knew we’d shut them all up.”
Golovkin and Canelo look set for a rematch in May following their controversial draw in September — which will require Saunders to wait around for his crack at the winner.
But his promoter Frank Warren is planning to arrange a voluntary defence for Saunders in the spring.
Then the aim is to put his WBO belt on the line against the winner of Golovkin and Canelo, who will battle it out for the WBA, IBF and WBC straps.
Warren said: “That win puts him in position — they will have taken notice.
“We don’t want him sat around putting weight on. We want him out in the spring and then against the winner of Canelo and Golovkin for all the belts in September”
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