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Saunders vs. Lemieux Teleconference Transcript
OSCAR DE LA HOYA: Thank you to the media for joining us
today in this International Media Conference Call for
Saunders versus Lemieux. We are kicking off fight week with
this call and have a week of events leading up to Saturday's
events, which will surely be a showdown between two heavy
hitters this Saturday, December 16th, at the brand new Place
Bell in Laval, Quebec, Canada. WBO Middleweight World
Champion Billy Joe Saunders will battle the heavy-handed
David Lemieux for Saunders title, which is a WBO title. This
event is presented by Golden Boy Promotions and Eye of the
Tiger Management in association with my partner Frank
Warren.
Additionally, we have a spectacular co-event as part of the
HBO telecast. Antoine "Action" Douglas versus Gary "Spike"
O'Sullivan will be a ten-round fight for the WBO
International Middleweight title presented by Golden Boy
Promotions, Eye of the Tiger Management, and in association
with GH3 Promotions and Murphy's Boxing.
And opening up the HBO telecast, we will have Cletus "Hebrew
Hammer" Seldin returning to the ring just more than a month
after his dominating knockout victory. He's taking on a
highly regarded Yves Ulysse Jr., and that's a ten-round
super lightweight, and that will be opening up the telecast
on HBO, which begins at 9:40 Eastern/Pacific time.
Tickets for the Saunders-Lemieux are priced beginning at $45
all the way up to $500. They're still for sale. Tickets are
going fast. We're going to have a full house at the brand
new arena.
So at this time, it is my pleasure to introduce to you the
president of Eye of the Tiger Management, my good friend and
partner at Golden Boy Promotions, Camille Estephan.
Camille Estephan: Hello, everyone. It's fight week. We're
here. We're ready. This fight is going to be a war. We
expect a show that we'll talk about for the next decade. HBO
undercard as well, two styles that, I think, will marry very
well. Great fight, Action Douglas against O'Sullivan. I
can't wait to watch the fight myself as a fan. We thank you
for supporting HBO, Golden Boy, Frank Warren. Everybody's
involved. So many promoters, so many people got together to
put this great, great event together.
Oscar, Eric, and the team, wonderful job. Thank you very
much. We're ready here.
OSCAR DE LA HOYA: Thank you very much, Camille.
Let me introduce now the trainer for David Lemieux.
Obviously, he's been doing an amazing, amazing job. They've
been training for months now getting ready for this
incredible showdown on December 16th. Here is Marc Ramsey to
say a few words. Marc?
MARC RAMSEY: First of all, I would like to thank everybody
who made this happen, HBO, Golden Boy, Camille Estephan, and
Eye of the Tiger Management, Frank Warren.
I proposed to David Lemieux a couple of tough, tough
training camps, but a very successful training camp where we
reached every single goal in camp. I'm very enthusiastic
about the performance of David Saturday night and a very
nice victory just before Christmas for our fans here in
Montreal.
OSCAR DE LA HOYA: Thank you. Thank you very much. So now
it's my pleasure to introduce to you Canada's biggest star.
He's a former IBF Middleweight World Champion. He has a
stellar record of 38 wins, 3 losses, and 33 knockouts. David
is a thunderous puncher with tremendous, tremendous power in
both hands. He captured the IBF World Middleweight Title
against Hassan N'Dam in 2015, knocking the then world title
holder out four times en route to a decision victory.
This year, Lemieux blasted out title contender Curtis
Stevens in a third-round impressive knockout, which is a
contender for the Fight of the Year. And then also he went
on to beat Marcos "Dorado" Reyes. Now he's up for another
big challenge in Billy Joe Saunders, and that will be for
the WBO Middleweight title. It is my pleasure to introduce
to you from Canada, David Lemieux.
DAVID LEMIEUX: Thanks, Oscar. Hi, everybody. I'm so excited
for this week. Very, very grateful for another great
opportunity to become world champion again. I'm thankful for
everybody to be part of this. Thanks to Golden Boy
Promotions, Eye of the Tiger Management, HBO, and everybody
around. Thank you, guys.
It's been a great camp. I'm really excited for this fight.
I'm more excited, actually, just to lay my hands on Billy
Joe Saunders more than anything else. He's got a big mouth.
It's rare I see fighters with such a big mouth. I just hope
his fighting is going to come as close as his mouth on
Saturday night. He has a very, very aggressive Lemieux on
his back, and I'm going to be ready. I'm extremely prepared
for this fight. So, it's not going to be easy for him. It's
actually going to be hell for him.
I'm here to knock him out. I'm here to destroy him every
round. It's 12 rounds. It's unfortunate for him, but I'm
ready for 12 big rounds. I'm excited for this fight to give
the fans their money's worth and finish the year with a new
WBO title.
OSCAR DE LA HOYA: All right. Thank you, David. Do we have
Team Saunders on?
BILLY JOE SAUNDERS: Here ready to rock and roll.
OSCAR DE LA HOYA: All right. It is my pleasure to introduce
to you the man behind the WBO World Champion. Obviously,
when you have a world champion like Saunders, you need a
great trainer, and so it's my pleasure to introduce to you
Dominic Ingle. Dominic?
BILLY JOE SAUNDERS: No, this is Billy Joe. Dominic is not
here. It's the champ here, just the champ alone.
OSCAR DE LA HOYA: All right. So, let me -- it is my pleasure
to introduce to you, hailing out of Hatfield, United
Kingdom, Saunders is undefeated coming off back-to-back
defenses. He is the WBO World Champion. He demolished Irish
Andy Lee in 2015. He is the WBO Middleweight Champion,
fighting the likes of Willie "The Mongoose" Monroe.
And on Saturday night he's looking to stay undefeated, and
he's ready. He trained hard for this fight. So, it is my
pleasure to introduce the WBO Middleweight Champion Billy
Joe Saunders.
BILLY JOE SAUNDERS: Good afternoon, everybody. Training camp
is very, very good. It's come to an end now. Lovely,
beautiful, it's done. Fitness is done. Feeling in the best
shape ever. No excuses. No excuses. Don't need no excuses
about injuries or anything else. It's going to be a very
good fight. I think David is a good fighter, but at the
minute, he's just the last bit of dog meat for me because
(indiscernible) Golovkin told me I am the dog himself. And I
know he's given David a bit of a beating and also set that
big fire out for me.
OSCAR DE LA HOYA: We will now open it up for questions from
the media.
Q. My first question for David is I guess this is going to
be the first time there's going to be a boxing event in this
particular arena they opened this year in Laval. I wonder,
just from your perspective, I know you've had a lot of
fights in Quebec and in Montreal in particular, but what
would it mean for you to win a world title in front of your
hometown, the way you did the first time you won a world
title belt, especially in a new building, and excited about
the fight?
DAVID LEMIEUX: Well, it's been done once. It's going to be
done twice. I think it's going to be a great night for the
fans, what I'm going to bring to the ring and how I'm going
to fight. People are just talking about my punching power
and this and that, but they're going to be surprised once I
start mixing it up with Saunders, and not just the punching
behind here, there's a boxer too. So, we'll see how he holds
up.
Q. When you fought in your last fight that was -- in a world
title fight and you lost that fight. What makes you believe
that your performance against Saunders is going to be a
whole lot different than the way it went down against
Golovkin? I know that wasn't your best performance.
DAVID LEMIEUX: I'm a whole different guy than I am facing
Golovkin. I'm a whole different guy. You put Golovkin back
in front of me, and it's going to be a whole different
scenario. Now I've got Saunders to take care of. We've done
everything we need to do in camp. I don't think it's going
to be very difficult in the ring against him.
I'm going to be nice manners because it's going to be hell
for him. But I'm ready. I'm ready to take the title now.
Q. You made it clear, David, in your opening remarks that
you don't really seem to have much like for Billy. I wonder
where does that come from? What's the reason? I've heard you
talk in other fights, and you didn't have that kind of
animosity between Gennady Golovkin or even Curtis Stevens,
necessarily. What is it about Saunders that has you going in
the wrong way?
DAVID LEMIEUX: I'm going to make him pay in the ring. All
this animosity is going to come out in the ring. If he
thinks he can run away for 12 rounds, he's in a lot of
trouble.
Q. Is there something he said that got you upset or
something he did?
DAVID LEMIEUX: Well, he said a whole bunch of things. Just
his character, he is who he is, and I don't like him.
Q. Billy, can you give me your perspective about traveling
to your opponent's hometown to defend your title. Your
previous world title fights have taken place in front of the
more friendly crowds over in the UK. Give me your mindset
about coming to enemy territory.
BILLY JOE SAUNDERS: I go to enemy territory all the time.
Where I'm from, when I boxed Andy Lee, it was the biggest
feud amongst possible gypsy culture, English, Irish,
Scottish, and Welsh all there in one mixture. Most of them
there for Andy Lee.
I perform under pressure. I've seen David's absolute best
performance against Gennady Golovkin. I think David is very
weak in the mind. And at the end, I don't care if it's in
his backyard, put the ring there. As long as there's a ring
we can get in, that's all that matters.
I'm quite happy to know I'm under his skin because, if he
wants to play a boxing match, then bring a blindfold, and
I'll put it on, and I'll beat him. That's how confident I
am.
Q. Do you have any regard for his punching power? Most
people watch David fight, they think -- and have seen
knockouts he had against Curtis Stevens, and think of David
honestly as one of the top punchers in the sport regardless
of weight class. Do you have any thoughts about the kind of
punching power he possesses?
BILLY JOE SAUNDERS: Against bums, yeah, knocking out old
men, but he got stuck against Rubio. He's a tough man with
power. He lost his next and then fought bums all the way up
until Golovkin. Curtis Stevens, he's not an A-level fighter.
He's just a step up, a bit of a seasonal fighter. He's
really nothing special. He dealt with him, fair play. But he
got spanked by Golovkin previous to that.
When you mix him up against the very, very best of the
league, he's not quite comfortable. He didn't win a round
against Golovkin.
Q. One more question for you, Billy. Since you're so
confident you're going to win this fight, what kind of big
fight in the middleweight division or maybe a different
division do you want after this fight? There's obviously a
possibility of a Canelo Alvarez-Gennady Golovkin rematch.
What do you want to do after you beat him?
BILLY JOE SAUNDERS: I want whoever's next. I would love to
fight Canelo Alvarez. I would love to fight him. As long as
it's all a fair playing field here in Canada, which I'm sure
it will. I don't want no Canelo-Golovkin results. I want a
fair result. If David Lemieux beats me fair and square, I
will shake his hand. But when I beat him fair and square, he
won't even shake my hand, and rightly so.
Q. Billy, just what you just mentioned about going to
basically his hometown and you want fair play, how concerned
are you about the judging if the fight goes the distance?
BILLY JOE SAUNDERS: Listen, I'm not concerned at all. We've
got one Canadian, one English, and one other nationality. So
it's going to be a fair playing field. Listen, David's
already said that he's going to knock me out. So we don't
need judges, do we? He's already put that pressure on
himself. He has to come and knock me out, and if he doesn't
knock me out, there's no way in God's name that he's going
to win this fight because, to me, he will be a walking punch
bag.
Q. Obviously, if you win this fight, you're in a great
position because they haven't made the Canelo-Golovkin
rematch. How do you feel about possibly getting Canelo, as
you just mentioned, if you win this fight?
BILLY JOE SAUNDERS: When I win this fight, that's the one I
want is Canelo. He's a global superstar. He's the one you
have to beat to get recognized at the high potential of this
game. I would love to work with Oscar De La Hoya and Frank
Warren Promotions to make that fight after, but I'll be up
for that fight with Canelo.
Q. And you obviously have no trouble coming to Las Vegas or
something like that based on what you said, right?
BILLY JOE SAUNDERS: Listen, if I will come to Canada to
spank David, I will go to Las Vegas, Mexico, wherever they
want, to be in the fight. I'm not in it for money. I'm not
in it for anything else. I'm in it because I want to be
involved in big fights. Now I've got my hand in the big pot,
I don't want to make any slip-ups. So I've got to make sure
I'm 100 million percent on Saturday night, which I will be.
Q. David, what is your perspective on possibly getting
another -- if you win this fight, possibly getting another
shot at Golovkin or possibly facing Canelo?
DAVID LEMIEUX: These are all names that will come up sooner
or later, so I will be prepared when their time comes.
Q. Hi, David. I just wonder, you're up against a
left-hander, unbeaten guy who doesn't have a lot of
knockouts on his record. So the obvious thing would be power
against -- puncher against boxer. Is that the way you see
the fight?
DAVID LEMIEUX: You know, we've prepared for many scenarios.
I've had multiple sparring partners. We've been training to
brawl. We've been training for everything. Come fight night,
there will be no surprises. But I have an idea about how
he's going to fight against me, and we've prepared very well
for it. So there's going to be no surprises for me.
In regard of fighting a left-handed guy, I've always done
good against left-handed guys. It's not a problem.
Q. Were you inspired at all by Jean Pascal winning his
farewell fight?
DAVID LEMIEUX: Inspired? No, but I guess he did do good. I
didn't really see the fight, but congratulations to him. He
had quite a comeback.
Q. David, I'm sure that Saunders points to your record and
says, well, he has losses, and I don't. However, do you
think that those losses give you a level of improvement and
learning that somebody with an O on their record doesn't
have? In other words, is that an advantage to you?
DAVID LEMIEUX: If you look at those losses, there's really
only one loss that I can credit. The two losses were early
in my career, the first one against Rubio, and the one
against Alcine is very debatable, in my eyes. I still don't
believe I lost that fight.
The one against Golovkin, I had my issues. Right away the
fight was done. No excuses. I worked my way back up, and I'm
very confident in getting those defeats back to a win on
Saturday. The first thing to do is to get this deal settled,
and we'll talk about Golovkin or Canelo or whoever it is.
Q. And earlier you were asked about fighting in this new
arena in front of the Canadian fans. I think many people are
surprised how avid the Canadian fans are, that there are so
many very strong Canadian boxing fans. Why do you think that
that is? That doesn't strike people immediately as a country
that is very strong with boxing.
DAVID LEMIEUX: We love boxing. We have a lot of good
fighters. There's been a lot of good fighters out here, and
boxing has been very active.
Q. Well, they love it, and they show it. The question for
you, Billy Joe, you have fought all of your previous
professional fights in Great Britain. For your first fight,
you choose to come to Canada. Why was that the choice for
your first overseas fight?
BILLY JOE SAUNDERS: Because David's team wouldn't come to
England. I wasn't going to come to Canada at first, but then
if this fight was going to get made, it was going to be
after Christmas. I said, listen, I want to beat out twice
before the new year, and twice I will be. So traveling is
nothing to me. I'm a born traveler. Traveling is nothing to
me. I've been boxing all over the world since I was 10 years
of age, from Russia, from Australia, from Beijing -- you
name the countries, I've been there. I know it's only
amateur boxing, but I'm so used to traveling and preparing
to fight the same nervous system, the same energy you need
to play.
I've seen David. I've seen David at his very best, his
extreme best. That don't worry me. He has to bring more than
that.
Like I say, boxing is a dangerous sport. One punch can
change everything. As David says, he's a very, very big
puncher. So I have to be on my game.
Q. And a final question to the both of you. Are you
motivated by the animosity between you? I mean, there's no
love lost at all. Your comments today have been mild
compared to Twitter.
BILLY JOE SAUNDERS: I don't know David. All I know is he's
got short legs. That's all I said is he's got short legs. I
think with such a nervous -- the nerve button a bit. Listen,
I don't not like David. As a matter of fact, after I beat
him, I'll give him a kiss on the cheek, no problem.
Q. Any response, David? And I'll end my remarks there.
DAVID LEMIEUX: You kiss me on the cheek, you'd better watch
out for my hook.
BILLY JOE SAUNDERS: For the hook? I'll watch out for that
one, yeah. I'll watch out for the hook, David. Careful you
don't pull that shoulder out as well.
DAVID LEMIEUX: What was that?
BILLY JOE SAUNDERS: I said be careful you don't strain too
hard on your shoulder when you try that hook, okay?
DAVID LEMIEUX: I'm ready. Both shoulders are good. Let's see
if your chin holds up.
BILLY JOE SAUNDERS: Good, good, good. My chin will hold up.
I'll promise you that. That's one thing I'll promise you, my
chin will definitely hold up. If it don't, you can have my
purse. How about that? No problem.
DAVID LEMIEUX: I'll keep that in mind after the fight.
BILLY JOE SAUNDERS: Keep that in mind because you need it.
You're only getting a small one this time, aren't you?
DAVID LEMIEUX: I got you in Canada at least.
BILLY JOE SAUNDERS: Yeah, you got me in Canada, no problem.
At least it's a ring, isn't it? You've got me in Canada.
I'll just look at it a little bit and smack you up and go do
what I need to do after. That's what we'll do.
DAVID LEMIEUX: We'll see on Saturday.
Q. Billy, you just mentioned something about David's
shoulder. Do you suspect that he has a shoulder injury? Is
that what you mean?
BILLY JOE SAUNDERS: I don't expect nothing. Every fight has
had injuries, but some are worse than others. We seen James
DeGale last week. He had a shoulder injury, and he rushed
back too soon, and he should have waited a bit longer. Look,
the way I look at it, I'm sure David is healthy and ready to
go because he wouldn't be in the ring if not. His management
team wouldn't be advising him to get in that ring, I'd like
to hope so. If I had an injury, then I wouldn't be here. So
we've both got to be 100 percent. Thank God we're both 100
percent, and we can both go to work on Saturday night.
Listen, I'm not hoping for no advantage or disadvantage for
injuries. I'm hoping to get in there against the best guy
myself and get the win fairly.
Q. This is a question for Billy Joe Saunders. Hello, champ.
It's great to speak with you, sir. No matter what both of
you and David say, the bad blood element of this fight is a
big, big talking point. You had a bad blood fight with
Eubank, Jr., of course, which you won and still talk about a
rematch and various things. Is this more bad blood in this
fight, do you think? Do you see this as more of a fight
where you dislike your opponent?
BILLY JOE SAUNDERS: Like I said earlier on, I don't dislike
David. I don't know him to dislike him. I don't really keep
track of him, how he goes on and how he don't. All I know is
that he said some -- he mentioned about putting people in a
coffin dead on Twitter. Now, I've only got respect for the
boxing world, and we recently lost someone who passed away
in the ring and also somebody again the other day. So I just
don't like that talk because it's stupid talk because to
those people's family, it is very upsetting and very
discrediting to boxing.
So if he knocks me out, he knocks me out. If I knock him
out, I knock him out. But a death situation, that's the only
thing I didn't like, which personally, myself, it don't hurt
me, but I love boxing, and it discredits boxing. So that's
the only reason why I got a little bit of a -- why I said he
had short legs and something else, why I said that.
I'm only saying the truth. He's got short legs. David, my
son's got some size 22 jeans I brought over for you for
after the fight. I've got them as a present for you, 22-inch
legs.
DAVID LEMIEUX: You talk in English. I don't understand what
you're saying.
BILLY JOE SAUNDERS: I've got very nice jeans for you, good
gesture. They're very short in leg for you.
Q. Also, Billy, you look to be in absolutely fantastic
shape. Is it fair to say you're in the best physical
condition you've ever been in before? Because people have
remarked on the way you look so ripped. Have you trained
harder than ever before?
BILLY JOE SAUNDERS: Listen, when I come into somebody's
backyard in Canada -- I flew over here -- I'm never going to
leave a stone unturned. I am at my physical, best shape I
possibly can be in. There is no better Billy Joe Saunders
turning up here on Saturday night, and I can guarantee that.
So I hope David can be the same.
Q. This question is for Billy. You've taken a lot of
criticism from a lot of people who say you're ducking
Gennady Golovkin. I wasn't interested in the question
myself, but I see on my Twitter feed that you mentioned
Canelo over Gennady. Would you like to comment on that?
BILLY JOE SAUNDERS: I know that Golovkin and Canelo, they
hold the ace card. I offered to fight Golovkin in June, but
he passed up on the opportunity. Not that he was scared or
frightened, but he had big business to do with Canelo. So if
them two aren't fighting, it makes more sense now that, me
beating one of Oscar De La Hoya's boxers in Canada, also
gives me more of a chance to fight Canelo. Either one of
them come along, I would love to fight Canelo.
Q. David, have you altered your training at all to face
Saunders or no? In other words, you're fighting a slickster
this time. You're not fighting a Stevens or a Canelo or even
a Triple G. You're facing someone who's a little more
slippery. Have you altered your training at all?
DAVID LEMIEUX: For every fighter there's a new planning. I'm
in the best shape of my career. Come Saturday night, you
guys watch what I'll do. You can judge for yourself.
Q. (In French).
DAVID LEMIEUX: (In French).
THE MODERATOR: Camille, can you translate the question and
the answer for others on the call. Camille or David, are you
able to translate the question and response that was just
given in French?
CAMILLE ESTEPHAN: Basically, how David feels about fighting,
and David is very excited to be able to fight for a second
time for a world title in front of his fans, this time in
his own backyard. He's very proud of being able to do an
event of this magnitude for the city of Laval.
With regards to the second question was about how he's going
to fight Canelo and Golovkin after his fight. And he says,
looking back, David is making a big mistake to talk about
what he's going to do after Saturday, and David would prefer
to not talk and just do. Show him on Saturday rather than
just talk about it.
THE MODERATOR: We're going to transition to final comments.
David, do you have any final comments you want to share with
the media on the call today?
DAVID LEMIEUX: Saturday night I'm going to be the new world
champion.
THE MODERATOR: Billy Joe, do you have any final comments
you'd like to give?
BILLY JOE SAUNDERS: LOL. See you Saturday. God bless you
all.
THE MODERATOR: Thanks for joining us on today's call. We
will see you Saturday at Place Bell for Saunders vs.
Lemieux. Have a great day.
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