This isn’t a hard fight to predict because at this point of their respective careers they are levels apart. Billy Joe Saunders hasn’t looked great at Super Middleweight but has still looked better than Martin Murray who has looked average and gone the distance with journeymen.
Billy Joe Saunders is at his best a slick southpaw with great pure technical boxing skills. He’s not a big puncher but hes got enough to get by at world level with. The biggest set back for him is his out of the ring activity’s which have led to him being suspended from the sport along with having to issue countless apologies. In between fights hes admitted he doesn’t train and just piles on the weight which isn’t good for any boxer much less a world champion. I’d comfortably back any top 20 Super Middleweight against him due to his recent bad form but unfortunately Martin Murray isn’t close to being a top 20 Super Middleweight.
Martin Murray in his prime was a good fighter who should have been world champion at least once but was robbed of his big moment. He’s looked slow in his recent fights and you can tell he just doesn’t have it anymore. Every attribute he once had has decreased significantly after a long career combined with being 38.
I expect Billy Joe Saunders to win this fight by either decision or late stoppage depending on how hard hes trained and whether hes motivated to prove worthy of a Canelo fight. I can’t back a washed up fighter to beat a world champion in their prime especially not someone with Saunders’s style who can comfortably out box him using his youth for twelve rounds.
Boxing Fulcrum 