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Billy Joe Saunders vs. David Lemieux
Final Press Conference
Photos: Vincent Ethier - Eye of the Tiger Management
WBO World Middleweight Champion Billy Joe Saunders (25-0, 12
KOs) and former IBF World Middleweight Champion David
Lemieux (38-3, 33 KOs) hosted their final press conference
today for their WBO World Middleweight Championship fight
that will take place this upcoming Saturday, Dec. 16 at
Place Bell in Laval, Québec. The co-main attraction will be
a 10-round fight for the WBO Intercontinental Middleweight
title between Antoine "Action" Douglas (22-1-1, 16 KOs) and
Gary "Spike" O'Sullivan (26-2, 18 KOs). Also on the
televised card will be Cletus "Hebrew Hammer" Seldin (21-0,
17 KOs) who will face Yves Ulysse Jr. (14-1, 9 KOs) for a
10-round super lightweight bout. The action will be
televised by HBO World Championship Boxing beginning at 9:40
p.m. ET/PT.
Here is what the participants had to say:
BILLY JOE SAUNDERS, WBO World Middleweight Champion
"I've been in the ring 25 times now, and in a lot of
those fights, I've been the underdog, bigtime. And in
those fights, I was outboxed 60 per cent of the time.
When you don't love boxing and you're still winning, and
you look back and wonder, 'how did I do that? How did I
get through that?' But when you do find a love for it,
and you have good people working around you, people who
make you happy - there's a saying, a happy fighter is a
thankful fighter. And I haven't been this happy since my
amateur days. For the last six or seven months, I've
never been happier. I'm excited to get into the ring.
I'm excited to get into the ring and eager to put on a
classic display. Because not only am I mixing it with a
boxer who is in the top-5, but I'll be fighting in front
of great fighters I've watched as a kid, like Bernard
Hopkins and Oscar De La Hoya."
"David has to come from round one and try to knock me
out. Because when he's eating fresh air, he's very
injury prone. But what I don't want from David's team
are excuses. David is a good fighter, he's mixed it with
Golovkin at a very elite level. But some boxers are not
quite enough to be at that elite level. And David,
you're not quite good enough. Am I good enough? We'll
soon see. In my own mind, I know I can deal with it, and
then with Golovkin or Canelo, we'll see where I really
am."
DAVID LEMIEUX, Former IBF World Middleweight Champion
"The time to talk is over and now it's time to let the
fists do the talk and show you who the real World
Champion is. A lot of things are going to happen on
Saturday, but my promise to you is that by the time I
will leave Place Bell, I will have the WBO belt on me. I
will be World Champion. I'm ready to give you guys a
great evening of boxing. Saunders made a lot of
promises, about his chin, about his purse, and that's
something I haven't forgotten."
Let's see for how long you will be able to back up those
words and put them together again this Saturday. I'm
well aware of your abilities, I hope you are aware of
mine. I'm not just a puncher. People like to see blood
and big punches, and that's what they'll see on
Saturday."
CAMILLE ESTEPHAN, President of Eye of the Tiger
Management
"We promised, we delivered, the goal was to offer the
best boxing card in Quebec, and that is what we will
deliver. The ultimate goal and what we want to make sure
of, is that David Lemieux becomes World Champion again.
He's the real deal, he's a man who represents our team
as well as the province of Quebec with pride. I am so
proud of the person and the athlete that he is, and also
of all the efforts he's put into this, inside the ring
as well as outside."
ERIC GOMEZ, President of Golden Boy Promotions
"This really is a historic event. Four different
promoters here in Montreal. I want to thank Billy Joe
Saunders for coming out here, we have great respect for
you. He truly wants to be great. We are really excited
for David, to have this other opportunity to be champion
again. The fact that he is now able to give the fans in
Montreal, an exciting fight, another world title is
truly exceptional. This promises to be a historic
event."
PETER NELSON, Executive Vice president of HBO Sports
"It's always great having shows in Quebec. Media always
shows up, true fight fans always shows up. It's truly
wonderful when the sport works together to make great
fights possible. There is no predetermined results in
boxing. On Saturday night, we expect that all three
fights are going to be 50/50 fights. I want to
particularly thank the champion Billy Joe Saunders for
stepping up and coming up into enemy territory to fight
on David's turf. I want to thank David Lemieux who's
never backed away from a great fight, who's always
stepped up for great challenges that's been put in front
of him like this one. We commend fighters like him, and
we reward fighters like him. Sometimes, putting on
events like this is complicated, but in this case, it
was easy, because both fighters wanted to put on a great
event. And that is, I think, what we are going to see on
Saturday, from top to bottom of the show. "
BERNARD HOPKINS, Future Hall of Famer and Golden Boy
Promotions Partner
"David Lemieux... Billy Joe Saunders... They both have
the goods to carry on in the middleweight division, over
the next year, 2018, with an excitement of what's going
to happen next. I look at this fight... We have two guys
whose styles really go together. When you have that type
of skills and that type of matchup, you're going to have
fireworks. Anyone that underestimates a fighter that
Frank Warren brings over, from wherever he brings him
from, you gotta take that seriously. I know from
experience that he didn't come here to lay down, he
didn't come here to give anything away. So David Lemieux
has to know that he needs to be at his best. Both
fighters now have the opportunity to become superstars
in their weight division, but first they have to pass
the test that comes Saturday. After the works that's
been done so far, the best is to come. "
FRANK WARREN, President of Frank Warren Promotions
"I think you're in for something very special on
Saturday. This is a great athlete I'm involved with,
Billy Joe Saunders is a fantastic ambassador for British
boxing, and he's done everything the hard way, all the
titles he's won. He's here, he's in David's backyard,
and I think we're going to see something very special,
because we have two boxing styles that complement each
other well. Billy's a very smart boxer, he's got a great
chin, he's never been on the floor whether it be in the
amateurs or the pros, he's gotten himself into a
fantastic position at the moment. He's in top shape
physically and mentally. I think this has the potential
to be the fight of the year. "
DOMINIC INGLE, Trainer to Billy Joe Saunders
"It's going to be a great fight, it's a 50/50 fight.
I've always said that Billy Joe can walk the talk and
walk the walk. Interesting analogy of Bernard Hopkins of
boxing being like a book and a story. I think he is
right, I'm reading the first chapter of Billy Joe
Saunders. But I think we're on the final chapter of
David Lemieux. And he's not going to have a fairy tale
ending. This is a classic Bull and Matador fight. David
can punch, Billy can box. And I can tell you that on
Saturday, Billy Joe Saunders will be leaving the ring
still WBO World Middleweight Champion.
MARC RAMSAY, Trainer to David Lemieux
"David Lemieux, as he usually does, had a great training
camp. He never takes shortcuts. He is in the best shape
of his life. A lot of things were said over the last few
weeks on social media, I will leave that to the
fighters, and I'm comfortable with that. David has shown
recently that he can talk, but the second that the bell
will ring, he will show up, he will fight. We will see
for Saunders. Like the expression says, you can talk the
talk, but you also have to walk the walk."
ANTOINE DOUGLAS, Middleweight Contender
"It feels great to be here. I've had a beautiful
training camp, I feel strong. I've never felt this great
or this strong at 160 pounds, in my entire career. And I
know it makes a big difference. I'm facing a great
seasoned veteran in Gary O'Sullivan, a tough guy, we're
in for a good fight. Like the Saunders-Lemieux fight, it
will be a bull-matador fight on Saturday night. I plan
to leave Canada as champion."
GARY O'SULLIVAN, Middleweight Contender
"It's been great so far here in Quebec, the people are
lovely here. It's been cold, but it's gonna get very hot
this Saturday night. I have no doubt I will be
victorious. We've both been beaten in the past, we've
had similar lessons, but the difference was that I
didn't give in, my corner stopped me. As for Antoine, he
was beaten in style but he gave up that night, and he's
gonna have a similar experience on Saturday night. I
look forward to returning to my home country as the
champion."
JOE DEGUARDIA, President of Star Boxing
"It's spectacular to have a fighter joining the names of
Roy Jones and Mike Tyson by being the third person to be
on HBO on back to back consecutive months in a featured
fight. It's a testament to my fighter. It's a great
opportunity. If you haven't seen Seldin, he really is
something special. You're in for a treat Saturday night.
I expect fireworks. "
CLETUS SELDIN, Super Lightweight Contender
"I believe that if you sacrifice everything single thing
possible, you have to do that to make yourself be a
successful person. I don't live a luxurious life. The
truth of working extremely hard and sacrificing
everything that you have is the only way to accept your
performance as a dream. It'll be a fun and exciting
fight. I want to show that you don't need to have had a
long amateur career to become a main-event fighter, that
a refuse-to-lose attitude can go a long way."
YVES ULYSSE JUNIOR, Super Lightweight Contender
"It's time to shine. I've been doing this for 10 years,
and it's my moment. Time to shine."
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