WBO world middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders defends his title this week against Canada’s David Lemieux.

Saturday night at the Bell Center in Quebec the Englishman will meet Lemieux with the winner knowing that a possibly huge fight against the winner of Golovkin vs Canelo in 2018 could be on the line.

Saunders has had to travel quiet a distance for the Golden Boy promoted show, but it’s not deterring him in the slightest.

Speaking on fighting abroad, the champion said:

“I go to enemy territory all the time. Where I’m from, when I boxed Andy Lee, it was the biggest feud amongst possible gypsy culture, English, Irish, Scottish, and Welsh all there in one mixture. Most of them there for Andy Lee.”

He added:

“I perform under pressure. I’ve seen David’s absolute best performance against Gennady Golovkin. I think David is very weak in the mind. And at the end, I don’t care if it’s in his backyard, put the ring there. As long as there’s a ring we can get in, that’s all that matters.”

Following a period of inactivity in recent years since originally capturing the WBO belt Saunders shook off some ring rust recently by defeating American Willie Monroe Jr by unanimous points decision last September in London.