Winning start for Saunders

Saunders: perfect start

It was my debut, so I wanted to put on a display. I'm in a show for everyone else, they have paid their money and they wanted to see a good fight.

Billy Joe Saunders
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Billy Joe Saunders showed why there is such a buzz about his name by beginning his professional career in style.

The former amateur European and Commonwealth champion needed just 1min 47secs of the second round to see off Attila Molnar to kick off a night when three of our Olympic team entered the paid ranks.

At just 19, Saunders is the baby of the bunch, but there was little sign of inexperience or nerves as he blasted away from the very first bell.

He needed no time to find his feet and within seconds had crashed three right hooks into the Hungarians arms and fired a left hook into the ribs.

It forced Molnar to cover up and left Saunders to hammer away at a sitting target for the remainder of the round. He continued to go for the head only to find the forearms but when he dipped downstairs, the left uppercut landed twice in successive flourishes.

With nothing coming back, the Hatfield teenager was able to tee off at will, although over-eagerness did see punches miss their target and the southpaw jab overlooked in search of the finishing punch.

Circumspect

His left continued to do damage down the middle but by the time the bell had sounded, Saunders had dropped his hands and hung his chin out as he stalked his man steadily.

Trainer Jimmy Tibbs may well have called for calm in the second and it was a more circumspect start although with Molnar finally deciding to offer something in return, there were more openings.

A succession of accurate counters and then a final flourish of hooks, uppercuts and the heavy left lead proved too much and with nothing coming back, the referee stepped in to mark a successful beginning to what many think will be a successful career.

"I listened to my instructions from Jimmy Tibbs and his son Mark and Dean Powell, who is a very experienced man, so I couldn't really go wrong with them in my corner," he told Sky Sports.

"It was my debut, so I wanted to put on a display. I'm in a show for everyone else, they have paid their money and they wanted to see a good fight. Hopefully that's what I gave them."