Billy Joe Saunders given suspended 15-month sentence over baby shower brawl

Former two-weight world champion Billy Joe Saunders has been given a 15-month prison sentence, suspended for 18 months, after admitting violent disorder during a mass brawl at a baby shower in November 2021.

Saunders was also ordered to complete 200 hours of unpaid work within 12 months and pay a £1,000 fine and £1,000 in costs at Warwick Crown Court.

The 37-year-old was one of five defendants sentenced after they pleaded guilty earlier this year. Nine men were involved in the disturbance, which broke out shortly after midnight on November 28, 2021, at Poppy’s Club in Bulkington, Warwickshire. Guests had gathered to celebrate the pregnancy of Audie Knowles’ wife.

The court heard that an earlier fight between two people had subsided before a second confrontation began suddenly for an unknown reason. CCTV showed John-Leon Porter punching another man before the disorder spread into the buffet area, where food and other items were thrown.

Prosecutor Patrick Sullivan said a witness saw Saunders emptying a beer bottle near the bar so that he could use it as a weapon. Saunders was then seen wrestling with a man while attempting to hit him with the bottle, throwing bottles across the room and landing six punches in four seconds on four men, including Porter. He later struck one of the same men again.

One unidentified participant stabbed a man through the hand during the wider disorder. A witness alleged that another defendant, David Draper, retrieved a gun and concealed it beneath a white top or cloth, although the claim that a firearm was present could not be substantiated.

Judge Thomas Rochford referred to Saunders’ boxing background during sentencing, telling him: “You were a boxer of some skill and repute at the Olympics and as a professional.”

“You were involved in this (brawl) at a more serious level than three of those with you today (in the dock), as you used a bottle and were considerably involved in this offence, but I bear in mind you did not dive in at the outset, you got involved a little later.”

The judge also told Saunders that, as a professional boxer, he “should be able to manage his feelings in a way others can’t”.

Defence links decline to Alvarez defeat

The brawl took place six months after Saunders suffered his first professional defeat, against Saul “Canelo” Alvarez in their super-middleweight unification fight at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

Saunders sustained a fractured eye socket and was withdrawn after the eighth round of the May 2021 contest, which drew an announced crowd of 73,126. He has not fought since.

Defence barrister Sebastian Gardiner told the court that the injury and defeat had effectively ended Saunders’ career at the time, after which he gained weight and began drinking heavily.

“It was an incident that took place at a time where he was extremely low, he had been drinking for the first time in his adult life,” Gardiner said. “He’d trained to be a boxer from being a child.

“He got to a very high level with lots of attention and expectation on him. His world came tumbling down in May that year when he was defeated. It was a fight which led to a fractured eye socket and which, in effect, ended his career.”

Gardiner said Saunders had “put on a huge amount of weight between May and November as he was drinking a lot and had come off the rails”, but told the court that seeing footage of his conduct prompted him to change his life.

“He was devastated to see himself behave like that,” Gardiner said. “It acted as a catalyst for him to recognise that he had behaved inappropriately and that he was mismanaging his life.”

The court was told that Saunders has since stopped drinking, lost four stone and resumed training with the intention of returning to professional boxing in December. He has also been working with amateur and professional fighters, while several boxing clubs supplied character references.

Saunders, a former Great Britain Olympian, has a professional record of 30-1 with 14 knockouts. He defeated Andy Lee to win the WBO middleweight title in 2015 and claimed the sanctioning body’s super-middleweight belt four years later.

Judge Rochford acknowledged that an immediate prison term would interfere with Saunders’ proposed comeback, saying: “I know a custodial sentence would affect that.”

A separate community order and fine imposed on Saunders for the illegal use of dogs to hunt and kill hares were not considered in sentencing because that offence took place after the 2021 brawl.

Knowles, 38, was the only one of the five defendants to receive an immediate custodial sentence. He was jailed for 15 months after the court heard that he repeatedly struck Porter and another man with a bottle.

Draper, 40, received a 12-month sentence suspended for 18 months, 140 hours of unpaid work, a £500 fine and £500 in costs. Martin Fury, 37, was given a nine-month sentence suspended for 18 months, along with 120 hours of unpaid work and a £500 fine. Porter, 27, received 33 weeks suspended for 18 months, 120 hours of unpaid work and a £500 fine.