By Ian S Palmer
Former WBO Middleweight Champion Billy Joe Saunders of Hatfield England will be defending his WBO Super Middleweight Crown this Saturday, November 9th when he takes on Marcelo Esteban Coceres of Argentina. The 12-round bout takes place at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California and can be seen live in North America on DAZN. Saunders last fought in May when he won the vacant title with a unanimous decision over Shefat Isufu. Coceres’ last bout was in September when he beat German Ignacio Peralta via a 10-round unanimous decision for the vacant WBA Fedebol Middleweight Crown.
The 30-year-old Saunders, a southpaw, enters the bout with a perfect record of 28-0 along with 13 Kos. He’s hoping to earn possible big-money fights down the road with the likes of Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez and/or Gennady Golovkin but has been taking on a steady stream of unknowns in the meantime. This is his third fight as a super middleweight but he’s expected to go back to middleweight if he can land a top-name opponent. Saunders is also a former Commonwealth Middleweight Champion with decent power to go along with great overall boxing skills.
Saunders competed in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China and has fought 191 rounds since turning pro the same year. His biggest wins have been over David Lemieux, Andy Lee, Willie Monroe Jr and a 12-round split decision victory over fellow Englishman Chris Eubank Jr in 2014. Other notable opponents include Gary O’Sullivan, Artur Akavov and Jarrod Fletcher. He stands 5-feet-11-inches tall and has a 71-inch reach. He’s not known as a KO artist with his knockout ratio currently standing at 46.4 per cent.
Coceres is a 28-year-old who’s never fought outside of his homeland of Argentina. He’s also unbeaten with a mark of 28-0-1 with 15 Kos but his opponents have all basically been unrecognizable. Coceres turned pro in 2012 and has 147 rounds of experience to his name. He’s got decent power with a current knockout ratio of 51.7 per cent but has gone the distance in three of his last five contests. Coceres’ height and reach are unlisted so unfortunately we can’t compare him size-wise to Saunders.
Since turning pro Coceres has also captured the IBF Latino Super Welterweight title as well as the WBC Latino and WBO Latino Middleweight Titles. The only fight he didn’t win was a four-round draw with Cesar Hernan Reynoso in 2012 in his second pro fight and he was also dropped in the first round. The heaviest Coceres has weighed in for a fight was 163 1/4 lbs in December of 2018 when he he stopped Basilio Silva in the second round.
Prediction…
Other than the wins over Lemieux and Eubank, Saunders’ biggest problem is that he usually fights to the level of his opposition and does just enough to win. He was nailed on the chin by the journeyman Isufu in his last bout while showboating and nearly paid for it. Many fans feel’ Saunders is despicable outside of the ring but if he does have anything going for him it’s his boxing skills inside the squared circle, which are quite good. Saunders, a former drug cheat should retain his title against Coceres unless the challenger nails him with a perfect shot.
