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Ben Davison gives fascinating insight of being in the corner of Billy Joe Saunders

Ben Davison

“I thought if we can save his energy and use round seven, eight, nine to really push on then those doubts are gonna creep in the other guys mind and we can control the pace from there."

British trainer Ben Davison's reputation is going from strength-to-strength.
Having guided Tyson Fury to an incredible comeback in the ring, Davison is now working with one of boxing's Pound for Pound best in Josh Taylor and undefeated British and Commonwealth titlist Lee McGregor.

Taylor - the "Tartan Tornado" - is preparing for an upcoming clash against Jose Ramirez for all four major belts at 140-pounds.

If he wins, he'll become the first undisputed champion from Scotland since Ken Buchanan in 1971, who defeated Ruben Navarro to add the WBC crown to his WBA, Ring and lineal lightweight titles.

Davison has also worked with Billy Joe Saunders in a couple of world title fights, including his WBO super middleweight victory over Shefat Isufi - a fight which captured Davison's incredible instructions in the corner.

The young coach, did however, receive criticism from parts of the boxing fraternity two years prior because of Saunders' performance against Artur Akavov in 2017.

"Well it was a bad performance but I actually took over probably three or four weeks before and he was really struggling with his weight," Davison explained.

"I'd been working with him the whole way through so I sort of knew what position he was in and my thinking at the time was you can't afford to win these rounds big, because he ain't got the gas tank for this fight because he was really struggling with his weight - and I know what he's like - so I remember he come back to the corner but again people are thinking 24-year-old probably doesn't know this, doesn't know that.
"He lost the round and he come back to the corner, I purposely told him he won that round on purpose, because I knew if I told him he lost it he would have come out and worked so hard to win that round.
"So, I purposely told him that he won the round just to keep him calm and I already had in my mind I know Billy Joe, personally before going into this fight.
"I thought I know how to get what I need out of him but it was about picking the right moment and this guy that he was boxing was not the most experienced at that level," Davison continued. "I thought to myself, one, 'we can't afford to shoot or attack too early, but I know he's gonna have his own doubts at doing the rounds at world championship level'.
"Around that mark when that question starts to usually come around rounds eight, rounds nine, that's when we need to push the pace up because I know what he'll start thinking, he'll start having doubts, can I do the pace? Have I got four, five, six rounds left in me?
"I thought if we can save his energy and use round seven, eight, nine to really push on then those doubts are gonna creep in the other guys mind and we can control the pace from there on out and use that guys doubts against him.

"It was about, the importance was mostly round management and also you know Billy Joe wasn't, he was seasoned but you know it was his first defence of his world title, first fight not working with Jimmy Tibbs and I thought I don't want to completely change the ways he's used to being communicated to in the corner.
"But people would never think oh 24 years old is thinking about these things."

Saunders bids for famous Texas win

Saunders - undefeated from 30 fights and a two-division world champion - will take on Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez this weekend in a unification showdown.
The pair will go to battle for the WBA, WBC, WBO and Ring Magazine super middleweight titles in front of 70,000 fans at the AT&T Stadium in Texas.
Davison believes it'll be a case of which fighter is more 'tactically aware' on the night.
"I know he [Saunders] can win that fight.
"I think this fights gonna boil down to who's better prepared, not physically, not who's more fit, who's better prepared for, cause the level of IQ in that boxing ring will be a joke, ridiculous. Canelo's IQ is ridiculous and Billy Joe's IQ is ridiculous.
"I just think it's gonna be a battle of who is more tactically aware, who understands what their opponent is going to achieve by what they're doing.
"One hundred percent Billy Joe can win that fight, there's not a doubt in my mind. But if he makes too many mistakes, he's too reactive, Canelo can win that fight of course he can, he's the best Pound for Pound fighter on the planet.
"If Billy Joe goes about it the right way he wins that fight," Davison concluded.

Listen to the full interview with James English here.

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