Billie Joe Saunders vs. David Lemieux Odds and Prediction

The WBO middleweight title fight between Billie Joe Saunders and David Lemieux will take place on December 16th, 2017 in Montreal, Canada.

The undefeated Saunders is coming off back to back title defenses of the WBO belt he won from Andy Lee in 2015. In his standout career, Saunders defeated Chris Eubank Jr., Gary Sullivan and Willie Monroe Jr.

Huge Motivation

Lemieux captured the IBF middleweight title by knocking out Hassan N’Dam in 2015. Since his loss to Gennady Golovkin, Lemieux has won four in a row including a knockout of the year candidate against Curtis Stevens.

According to promoter Oscar De La Hoya, Lemieux would be in line to fight Canelo Alvarez if the latter’s rematch with Golovkin fizzles. That’s of course if he beats Saunders convincingly so that’s a huge motivation for the Canadian slugger.

Tough Fight

Saunders is the mild favorite here at -120, while Lemieux is at even money (+100). This is going to be a very tough test for Billie Joe Saunders not only in terms of the quality of the opponent but because he is fighting outside his home country for the first time in his career.

Lemieux meanwhile will be fighting in front of his countrymen. And although Lemieux  has two losses in Canada, both of those fights were in 2011. Lemieux has racked nine consecutive wins in Canada and with the crowd behind him, it’s got to play a big factor here.

More Punching Power

But given Lemieux’s shaky chin, Saunders has a good shot at winning this bout by knockout. Two of Lemieux’s three losses were by knockout so given his high work rate and combinations, he may be able to topple Lemieux.

However, Lemieux has more punching power and has the ability to walk down his opponents and personally, that should be what decides this fight. Both men are going to land their shots but Lemieux will hit and land harder.

This is a battle between two aggressive fighters and the one who has more power should be victorious. We’re picking David Lemieux to win this fight by stoppage.