Karl Place

British boxing is still on a bit of a high, currently the Brits have 4 world champions to celebrate with Amir Khan (WBA Light Welterweight), Carl Froch (WBC Super Middleweight), David Haye (WBA Heavyweight) and Ricky Burns (WBO Super Bantamweight) and a number of high ranked contenders. It’s when we looking to the future that we see just how hot British boxing really is. Not only do we have fighters like John Murray on the verge of world title fights but a lot of young raw talent breaking through. This coming Saturday we see one of the most exciting young British prospects back in action in a major Sky Sports 1 show. Although the main event on “Saturday Fight Night” is Stuart Hall (10-0-1, 6KO’s) defending his British Bantamweight title against John Donnelly (12-1, 3KO’s) it’s the co-feature that really interests me.

22 year old Light Welterweight Karl Place (12-0, 7KO’s) returns to the ring to face George Watson (8-3-2, 1KO). Place is really one of the most exciting young talents in the UK and has shown plenty to be excited about so far. Stood at 5’11” Place has the natural size to fill out into perhaps even a Light Middleweight though for now he’s a tall lanky Light Welterweight with a big future ahead of himself and with VIP Promotions/Steve Wood behind him theirs no reason why he can’t become a big star.

Place debuted as a professional back in October 2008 just weeks after turning 20 and scored a 2nd round stoppage over Chris Kitson. He would follow that up over the proceeding months by beating up some of the best journeymen with points wins over Carl Allen, Johnny Greaves and Baz Carey. Those 3 fights account for 12 rounds of Place’s 40 career rounds to date. After those fights Place would defeat 3 fighters in confidence building victories before getting his most notable name to date, Steve Saville.

Saville was a limited fighter but a tough guy, although he entered on a 3 fight losing streak they had included a loss to Gary McArthur (who entered 11-0) and Frankie Gavin (who was 3-0). Place started the fight terribly and seemed to lack the defensive skill to keep Saville off him, he had his nose in the opening round and appeared to be eating Saville‘s left hand too often. Late in round Place was caught with a big shot and appeared to be wobbled. He came out for the 2nd and appeared to have calmed down as he went about breaking down Saville and beating him to the canvas in the 2nd. Saville had received hard blows to the body and head from Place who learned more in that fight than he had in his previous 7.



Since scoring the victory over Saville Place has fought 4 times, scoring wins over Michael Frontin (TKO5), experienced journeyman Billy Smith (4PTS), Maurycy Gojko (TKO3) and Danny Dontchev (6PTS). With George Watson in the opposite corner on Saturday Place competes in his first fight scheduled for 8 rounds and Watson, despite the losses on his record is a tough fight. To date Watson has only been stopped once, two fights ago by Stephen Jennings (LTKO3) and has since taking the hard hitting Carl Johanneson 8 rounds. A stoppage for place would be hugely impressive, though a win would expected and still impressive for Place.

Video’s courtesy of Frank Maloney’s Youtube channel.

Billy Joe Saunders

As well looking at 1 international prospect every week (this week was was of course Carlos Ivan Velasquez) we'll also try to look at 1 UK based prospect, or at very least a fighter fighting the same week as the blog. The weeks second fighter is British youngster Billy Joe Saunders. Saunders, one of Britain's 2008 Olympic team is one of the countries forgotten Olympians, he's been over shadowed by most of the others such as James DeGale and Tony Jeffries, yet has just as much long term promise as anyone.

Saunders is 21 and was the baby of the Olympic team going as just a teenager. Despite being knocked out in the 2^nd round by the Cuban Carlos Banteaux (the eventual silver medal winner). As an amateur he had an impressive record, apparently winning his first 49 fights as a senior including all his fights at the 2007 Commonwealth Boxing Championships. Soon after the Olympics he would sign a professional contract with British boxing supremo Frank Warren and start his rise through the professional ranks.

Upon turning professional it didn't take Saunders long to make an impact. He needed less than 2 rounds to stop Hungarian Attila Molnar in show that also saw James DeGale and Frankie Gavin debut. Since then Saunders has racked up an impressive 7-0 (4) record and looked like an ever maturing fighter. Unlike many former amateurs Saunders isn't the type to be overly patient looking for single shots but has a very complete professional “style” based around aggression, coming forward and looking for the stoppage whether he gets it or not. With his youthful energy he looks exciting coming forward and throwing punches though we all know fine well that he has the technical skills to fall back on and box with if he needs to.

As a professional he has fought 24 rounds already in his career with distance fights against the likes of the tough Alex Spitko, the experienced Lee Noble (who had only been stopped once) and Andy Butlin. Billy Joe has looked impressive and a little hot headed, which at times has added a little bit more excitement and spite to the fight. Although he's still a youngster in terms of being a professional fighter he's shown he's not scared of older men and instead wants them to respect him as he beats them down. A side of him that is brilliant for a fighter.

Like Tyson Fury, Saunders is from travelling stock and has the fighting blood running through his veins. His father was an amateur whilst his mothers grandfather was the great Absolom Beeney, a legendary bare knuckle fighter. With this sort of pedigree and his Romany gypsy blood there should be no worries about Saunders knowing how to handle himself when the going gets tough. He'll have been brought up in a tough environment and often looks much older than his actual age. Amazingly as a fighter he's also been a traveller, each of his 7 fights have taken place in different areas, although 2 were in London, he's also fought in Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Belfast and Birmingham.

Saunders fights against 52 fight veteran Turgay Uzun from Turkey on the undercard of John Murray's fight with Karim El Ouazghari. Saunders is facing a tough hard punching fighter who has only been stopped twice and holds 22 KO's in 35 wins. Though Uzun should be a relatively safe test as he is a substantially smaller man and was making Welterweight last year when he took on World title challenger Rafal Jackiewicz (and went the 8 round distance). A win is expected of Saunders though a genuine stoppage win will be very impressive.