Billy Joe Saunders will be glad to see the back of 2016 despite finishing the year by successfully defending his WBO world middleweight title to remain unbeaten.
The 27-year-old won a unanimous points decision over Artur Akavov at the Lagoon Leisure Centre in Paisley on Saturday night.
However, the Hatfield fighter was more than unhappy with his sluggish performance in what was his first appearance since winning the belt against Andy Lee a year ago.
He was supposed to defend the title last week in Cardiff but issues with medical paperwork from the Russian's team saw the fight postponed and relocated to Scotland.
A scheduled defence against Ukraine's Max Bursak in April was scuppered after Saunders picked up a hand injury, but after finally getting into action he was left frustrated by his "zero out of 10" showing and looking forward to next year.
"2016 has just been a bad year for me," he told Press Association Sport.
"A year out doing absolutely nothing, just losing weight for the last six months then coming back and fighting - no good.
"I had a bad year. I picked up a few injuries which put me back and by the time I looked around I was 15 stone. I got the weight off.
"The positive I have got to take from Saturday is you have a fighter who came in and gave his absolute all, he is not going to get any better than that, and I was on my lowest and still won. That's the only positive.
"But there is winning and there is winning, I like to box well and win, I just should have been getting rid of him sharpish.
"I stunk the place out. I am as truthful as they come. If I see another world champion with that performance I would say the same.
"I will say the same with me. I tell the truth. That doesn't belong in any top 10 and I am world champion."
Saunders, who took his record to 24-0, is targeting Gennady Golovkin, who holds the WBA (Super), WBC, IBF, and IBO middleweight titles, rather than a rematch with Chris Eubank Jr, whom he beat on a split decision in 2014.
However, he knows he will have to show significant improvement if he is to overcome the unbeaten 34-year-old Kazakh, who has won 33 of his 36 fights by knockout.
He said: "I don't mind fighting him (Eubank Jr) again but he's not on my radar to be honest. I am looking at unification - Golovkin.
"But most definitely I don't want to perform like that against the elite. I think I need another fight sharp and move on to bigger and better."
Source: PA
