Billy Joe Saunders defended his WBO World Middleweight Title against Willie Monroe Jr. on Saturday night and put on a convincing display under new trainer Dominic Ingle.

Boxing his way to a decision victory, Saunders looked in control for the fight and was in the best condition of his career so far.

His workrate did not drop in the later rounds, which has happened at times in his recent fights.

Ingle took to Instagram to praise his new student, despite only having 12 weeks to work with him, stating: “Mission accomplished, much more work and learning to come yet.

“Considering the time frame of a 12-week camp, [Saunders] didn’t put a foot wrong and completed the task, his tenacious approach to training for his world title defence against Willie Monroe Jr paid off.”

 Monroe may have been expecting Saunders’ output to drop in the second half of the bout, but Ingle made sure that this wouldn’t be an issue.

“Monroe’s game plan seemed to be based around [Saunders] fading in the later rounds and to then launch a big attack on a weakened fighter,” wrote the Sheffield based coach.

“There’s no doubt Billy Joe Saunders is a talented and skillful fighter but to showcase those skills it’s imperative he had the fitness to carry him through 12 rounds.”

On Monday morning Saunders tweeted that he is ready for a unification with Gennady Golovkin. In the meantime, the southpaw will be looking forward to continuing the successful relationship struck up with Ingle.

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