Bradley Saunders

Bradley Saunders (born 4 February 1986) is a British professional boxer. As an amateur, he won a silver medal in the light welterweight division at the 2010 Commonwealth Games, gold at the 2009 EU Championships and bronze at the 2007 World Championships.

Bradley Saunders
XIX Commonwealth Games-2010 Delhi Winners of Light Welter Weight (64 kg) Boxing Event where Bradley Saunders won Silver
Statistics
Weight(s)Light welterweight
Welterweight
Height178 cm (5 ft 10 in)[1]
NationalityBritish
Born (1986-02-04) 4 February 1986[1]
Stockton on Tees,
County Durham,
England[1]
StanceOrthodox
Boxing record
Total fights14
Wins13
Wins by KO10
Losses1
Medal record
Men's boxing
Representing  England
World Amateur Championships
Bronze medal – third place 2007 Chicago Light welterweight
EU Amateur Championships
Gold medal – first place 2009 Odense Light welterweight
Bronze medal – third place 2007 Dublin Light welterweight
Commonwealth Games
Silver medal – second place 2010 Light welterweight

Amateur career

Saunders won the British championships in 2006 whilst representing South Durham ABC.. He qualified for the 2007 World championships held in Chicago and won a bronze medal defeating the likes of local favourite Javier Molina(24:12) and Frenchman Alexis Vastine in order to join compatriots Frankie Gavin and bantam Joe Murray on the medal podiums and, in doing so, qualifying for the Beijing Olympics in 2008.

In the Olympic tournament Saunders' first round victory was followed with defeat in the second round to former victim Alexis Vastine.[2] Following the tournament Saunders made the decision to stay amateur whilst a number of his Team GB colleagues made the move to the professional boxing ranks.

In June 2009 Saunders returned to the ring to compete in the European Union championships held in Odense, winning gold and beating a fellow former World Championship bronze medallist Gyula Kate of Hungary along the way.[3][4]

Just prior to the 2009 World Championships due to be held in Milan, Saunders broke his left thumb in a training bout. A potential winner of gold at the event Saunders reflected on the injury by saying "I am a firm believer that everything happens for a reason...I'm going to focus totally on 2012. Maybe then I'll look back and be glad this all happened".[5]

World Amateur Championships

Commonwealth Games 2010
  • Defeated Anthony Taylor (New Zealand)
  • Defeated Yves Ulysse (Canada) in the quarters
  • Defeated Louis Colin of (Mauritius) in a close scoring semifinal 10-7
  • Lost to Manoj Kumar of (India) in the final 2-11

Olympic Games

Professional career

Saunders signed his first professional contract with Frank Warren and made his professional boxing debut on 10 February 2012 against Jason Nesbitt scoring a TKO victory in the 3rd round.

Personal life

On 25 November 2008 Saunders was questioned by police on suspicion of dealing cocaine after a police sniffer dog found what was alleged to be £12,000 worth of the drug in his back garden.[7] The charges were dropped against the boxer in April 2009 when the police decided not to proceed with the case.[8]

References
  1. "Bradley Saunders". teamgb.com. British Olympic Association. Retrieved 29 May 2015.
  2. BBC Sport | Mixed results for boxers in Beijing
  3. BBC Sport | England's amateurs shine at Euros
  4. BBC Sport | Saunders makes winning comeback
  5. BBC Sport | Injured Saunders to miss Worlds
  6. "Bradley Saunders - Boxer". Boxrec.com. Retrieved 6 September 2011.
  7. BBC News | Olympic boxer in cocaine arrest
  8. BBC News | No charges for Olympic boxer

The Independent | Saunders leads rout of Hungary

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.