Billy Joe Saunders ready for David Lemieux, but Canelo Alvarez, GGG are the big prizes

WBO champion Billy Joe Saunders holds what some might view as the B League title in the middleweight division, but the unbeaten Englishman doesn’t lack a bit for confidence.

Though IBF-WBA-WBC champion Gennady Golovkin and former champion Canelo Alvarez are regarded as head-and-shoulders above the rest of the field, the outspoken Saunders doesn’t buy that thinking.

He’s a feisty guy who has taunted Lemieux mercilessly. He’s said he could win by boxing blind-folded, said Lemieux’s most significant wins came against bums and he guaranteed a win in their bout on HBO Saturday at the Place Bell in Laval, Quebec, Lemieux’s home province.

“I’m used to fighting outside the U.K, [because] I’m a traveler of the world,” Saunders said. “I don’t care if there’s a million people [rooting for Lemieux]. It’s just me and him in that ring, end of the story. As for the rest, I don’t care.

“David has no chance of winning, and I’m convinced that he will not make the distance against me. I’m willing to bet part of my purse to charity if I lose and the winner will choose which charity to give it to. I’m not here for the money or anything like that. I’m here to make a statement. There’s no point in talking anymore, because all that matters now is what happens on Saturday.”

The winner will be the backup plan to fight Alvarez should negotiations for a May rematch between Alvarez and Golovkin not be finalized. Daniel Jacobs, who lost a razor-thin decision to Golovkin in March, is also a possibility for the winner.

Tom Loeffler, Golovkin’s promoter, isn’t happy the Alvarez-Golovkin rematch hasn’t been signed, but he said progress is being made for a bout in May. But he said that HBO has given Golovkin dates in March and April in the event a rematch can’t be made. That would then make Saunders, if he won, a possibility for Golovkin, as well, as it would in that event allow Golovkin to try to unify all four major middleweight belts.

Lemieux is promoted by Golden Boy, which also promotes Alvarez, so if Lemieux wins, he’ll undoubtedly be used to leverage Loeffler and Golovkin. It would an easy fight for Golden Boy to put together.

“There’s been a lot of speculation about that,” Loeffler said of the Saunders-Lemieux winner being a solid back-up in the event a deal with Golovkin isn’t reached.

Loeffler said talks for the rematch “haven’t progressed as fast as we’d have liked, but I will say that we’ve been in regular contact the last week and things have definitely gotten more detail-oriented over the last couple of days.”

Saunders relishes a shot at Alvarez and all but dismisses Lemieux.

Saunders is blunt in his assessment of Lemieux. Even Lemieux’s third-round knockout of Curtis Stevens in one of the year’s most sensational endings wasn’t enough to impress him.

He taunted Lemieux by reminding him of his 2011TKO loss to Marco Antonio Rubio.

“[He’s been winning] against bums, yeah, knocking out old men, but he got stuck against Rubio,” Saunders said. “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.”

One expert – and potential opponent – sides with Saunders. Jacobs, who hopes to fight the winner since he believes chances are negligible he’ll get either Golovkin or Alvarez next, thinks Saunders will outbox Lemieux.

“I think B.J. is going to win the fight because boxing is about pure skill at the end of the day, and he can box,” Jacobs said. “It’s hit and don’t get hit. That’s the name of the game. Being that Lemieux is not one of those special-type of fighters, he’s got power with a basic offense, I think B.J. will know he’s facing someone who is dangerous and he’ll train hard and take it seriously.”

Golovkin has throughout his career expressed more interest in the sanctioning body belts than the majority of his peers. So Jacobs believes that if he can fight the winner and grab the WBO belt, that would position him better for a fight with Golovkin.

It’s the way the middleweight division is now, with everyone scheming in an attempt to position for the big match.

“They’ve made it public they have no interest in an immediate rematch with me,” Jacobs said. “So I realize that I have to come to the table with something to spark the interest of those guys. If I can get that title, and maybe the fans and the press start calling for a rematch, that’s the way.”

But first, Lemieux and Saunders will have to do their thing for the secondary title. He will be fighting in North America for the first time and is introducing himself to the fans with a bravado and openness not often seen.

But he, too, knows where the real prize lies.

“I know that Golovkin and Canelo, they hold the ace card,” Saunders said. “I offered to fight Golovkin in June [2017], 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.”