Saunders joins the Olympic party by Tom Walker Oct 31st 2007

Bradley Saunders has joined Joe Murray in qualifying for the Beijing Olympics as he reached the last eight of the World Amateur Championships in Chicago last night. The 64 kg, 20-year-old, South Durham light-welterweight, defeated the USA's Javier Molina 24:12. “Buzzing” Brad did not let a raucous USA crowd distract him from the task he had in front of him, from the off Saunders was after the American like a dog after a rat. Saunders never let the American settle into a rhythm. Brad took the lead and stayed in front by initially haring Molina around the ring, hitting his foe with hard, straight punches, often landing a solid right hand lead from an orthodox stance. After leading at the end of the first round 3:2 Saunders began to use a powerful left hook to the body which Molina had no answer to. Saunders' 6:4 lead at the end of the second became 17:9 at the end of the third. Bradley bullied, bossed, and outgunned an American who thought he was going to be too fast and too clever for the Brit. 24:12, the final score, was a fair reflection of the control Saunders had from start to finish. Saunders' fourth contest in this competition will be on Thursday afternoon, 1st November, against Alexis Vastine, a tall 21-year-old Frenchman who matches the Durham Dynamo for aggression, spirit and strength. A bout everyone is looking forward to, it's going to be very hard for both boxers. Bradley Saunders gushed, “Second best day of my life” (His son was born fourteen months ago). “First goal was to qualify, next is to medal. Massive thanks to Terry Edwards for pushing me to this success.” Terry Edwards, GB Head Coach, said, “I love him, he's a tough, fast-handed, difficult opponent for anyone to box and he's improving all the time.” As reported earlier, 54 kg, 20-year-old bantamweight, Joe Murray, boxed his way to the 2008 Beijing Olympics games with a near flawless four rounds of fast-paced action, to decisively defeat experienced Mauritian southpaw, Louis Richard Bruno Julie, 26:19. Thus Joe Murray has qualified for Beijing 2008 at the first time of asking. Mancunian Murray, from Moss Side ABC, will be only the fourth ever England boxer to win a medal in the history of the World Championships if he defeats southpaw Yu Gu (China) on Thursday evening, 1st November. As per the pre bout plan, Murray took the contest to Julie from the first bell surprising Julie and racking up an early four point lead, which forced the Mauritian to take the offensive. This Julie did with gusto, in turn forcing Murray to skirt the ring and pick punches from either side of Julie's lead. A round one lead of 6:3 became 13:9 by the end of the second round. Joe and his corner realized that it was a virtual impossibility to defeat the strong Julie with counter punches alone, so Joe adopted the policy of retreating, but stepping in to continually beat Julie to the punch. Julie had no answer to this tactic. Murray cruised to victory with scores of 19:13 at the end of the third round and 26:19 by the end of the contest. “Dream come true, anyone's dream can come true...I'm over the moon,” beamed Murray. “I want to medal here. I've improved so much in the last year, thanks to GB trainers Terry (Edwards), Nigel (Davies), Dave (Pocknell), Joe (Gallagher, his club coach). “I want to thank Terry for selecting me and standing by me after I lost in the ABAs.” Edwards said, “Joe has been quietly confident throughout this trip and has boxed with thought and guile. He listens in the corner and is able to change tactics as when we ask him to. He is a pleasure to work with and has had a medal on his mind for the past month.”

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