Bradley Saunders – main

South Durham’s Bradley Saunders came away from the Commonwealth Games in Delhi, India as a silver medallist, adding to his reputation as one of Great Britain’s stand-out stars ahead of the London Olympics in under two years time.

Saunders, who is consistently ranked as one of the world’s best amateurs at 64kg had to face five opponents to earn his place on the podium and will be hoping to stand one place higher when it come round to 2012.

Bradley, who trained in Thailand in the build up to the games, admitted that he had an excellent camp running up to the tournament: “It was one of the best training camps I’ve ever had, the hotel was brilliant and the gym had excellent facilities with four rings so I didn’t need to travel around to train”.

“I breezed through the first two rounds against (Dominic Boatswain) in the first round, and knocked him to the canvas twice. I had a height and reach advantage over Anthony Taylor (New Zealand) in my second bout and it proved to be too much for him and I won by a 10-0 victory.”

Bradley secured medal status beating Canada’s Yves Ulysee 11-4. With a bronze medal secured it took the pressure off as he headed into the semi-finals to face Colin Louis of Mauritius. Bradley seemed to have the bout under control taking a 9-2 lead into the final round but Louis rallied and found himself only two points behind. It could have been a tense final half-minute for Saunders but he eased that worry by landing a lovely right which sent his opponent to the canvas.

Bradley said: “I was drawn against India’s Manoj Kumar in the final; having lost to home-town boxers before I was dubious to whether I would get a fair roll of the dice. I took the lead but was down 4-1 by the end of the first round.”

It would only get worse for Bradley as he had little choice but to plough forward and try and close the scoring. In doing this he dropped another four points to the Indian and by the end of the bout had lost by an 11-2 margin. Although Kumar deserved the victory the final score said more about the bad judging than Saunders performance in the final.

Gracious in defeat Bradley said “Kumar deserved to win, he’s a good boxer and was the better man on the day, I thought the judging was poor and felt I should have been ahead at the end of the first round. When I got back to my corner and was told I was 4-1 down I couldn’t believe it and was very disheartened going into the rest of the bout”.

As well as being rightly praised for his performances during the games, Bradley also made news outside of the ring when a war of words flared up between him and WBA world champion Amir Khan. Bradley had stuck up for GB head coach Rob McKrackens decision to take Khalid Yafia to the games ahead of Khan’s brother Haroon saying the GB honcho had made 100% the right decision.

Khan later released a statement aimed at Saunders stating: “Who the hell is Bradley Saunders, talking rubbish about Haroon?. Look at the age and weight difference. He could never say anything to me. Why? Because I took him apart in the amateurs. I played with him and if he ever wants to be reminded by the world champion I’ll do it again”.

Laughing off the rant Bradley told Punchline: “If anything I take it as a compliment, Khans always bad-mouthing boxers such as Carl Froch and David Haye so if he wants to add me to that list it must mean he rates me highly.

“Bringing up the fact that he beat me as an amateur over ten years ago when we were kids doesn’t really mean a thing and I’d be confident of defeating Khan if we ever stepped in the ring together again”.

On returning from India Bradley was given time to relax before facing Scott Cardle in the GB Championships. In another excellent performance Bradley reversed a one-point deficit in the final round to clinch a 6-4 victory over last year’s world championship quarter-finalist.

Saunders said “To be honest I’m sick of hearing Scott Cardle’s name, he has been following me around for a while now and is rightly not just a major challenger for my Olympic Games spot but a major challenger to anyone in the world. To have to come back from five bouts at the Commonwealth Games and be thrown in with Cardle with only two weeks notice was tough work but I worked hard and got the victory”

Bradley would secure the championship by stopping Jamie Easton in the final landing a lovely left hook to the body in the second round. “It was a lovely punch but I thought the referee should have stopped it sooner after I landed three big rights on the trot” Saunders explained.

Having added these medals to his growing collection Bradley is happy to take a small break before he sets his sights on next year’s World Championships and then the Olympic Games in 2012. Looking back on his last Olympic adventure Bradley said he will be better prepared this time around: “At the Olympics you are faced with an extreme amount of pressure having to box in front of 20,000 fans and with lots of reporters and press at ring side. A lot of the young boxers will fold under the pressure but having been there and done it and having boxed the best boxers in the world I am confident I can go there and win the Gold”.

Bradley hopes to turn professional after the games along with his younger brother Jeff Saunders who is also making waves in the amateur world. Jeff, 19, can box at either 60kg or 64kg. He has won the Schoolboy Championships twice (in 2005 and 2006) and the Junior ABA’s twice (2008 and 2009). He has also won two Four Nations silver medals and has represented England over 20 times. He holds the Tyne, Tees and Wear 60kg belt and will be boxing Shaun Moor on December 11th for the same belt at 64kg, so confident of victory Jeff said we may as well pencil it down as a win before the bout had took place.

Showing the same sort of confidence as his brother Jeff said he is happy to face any opponent at any venue and is hoping he can also edge his way into the Olympic team in 2012. Since turning senior last season Jeff said the main difference at this level is that some of the boxers are a lot stronger but he is confident he can use his boxing skills to beat them if that is the. His main goal for this season is to win the ABA championships.