By Keith Idec

Willie Monroe Jr. hasn’t allowed any of Billy Joe Saunders’ trash talk bother him.

In fact, the middleweight contender considers Saunders’ over-the-top bravado a mask for the WBO middleweight champion’s insecurities. Monroe also feels that they wouldn’t be fighting Saturday night in London if the WBO hadn’t pushed for him to replace mandatory challenger and interim champion Avtandil Khurtsidze once Khurtsidze was arrested three months ago for his alleged involvement in a Russian crime syndicate.

“To me it’s a weakness,” Monroe told krikya360.com regarding Saunders’ trash talk. “You should definitely honor whoever’s getting ready to fight you because any fighter can be dangerous on any given day. But I personally don’t really care because I’m just happy he signed a contract. There are so many guys backing out and pulling out, I’m just happy somebody was willing to fight me.”

The WBO turned to Monroe as Khurtsidze’s replacement because he was the highest-ranked available contender (then No. 5; now No. 2) once Khurtsidze’s troubles surfaced.

“I know that he still, honestly, didn’t wanna fight me,” said Monroe, who was attacked by Saunders' son at their weigh-in Friday. “This is not a fight that he wanted, and we know that to be a fact. He was pretty much made to fight us by the WBO. I’m not worried about him talking. Whatever it took to get him to sign the contract, I’m just glad we baited him into signing a contract.”

Monroe, a southpaw from Rochester, New York, has just six knockouts in 23 professional fights (21-2). Based on their histories, he’ll likely have to win by decision if he is to become the first fighter to defeat Saunders (24-0, 12 KOs) in their scheduled 12-round title fight at Copper Box Arena.

Beating Manchester’s Saunders on the scorecards won’t be easy, but Monroe hasn’t let the possibility of losing a controversial decision in his opponent’s home country consume him.

“I try not to worry about it, because it is what it is and it’s gonna be what it’s gonna be,” Monroe said. “I have to do what I was put here to do, which is to kick ass. I can’t really worry about the judging. I trust that the WBO and the judges that are being brought in will be fair enough to do the right thing and render the right decision if the fight goes to the scorecards. But if not, it’s nothing new, it’s nothing that hasn’t happened in boxing before.”

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for krikya360.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.