Olympics: Rich Pedigrees Meet in Beijing Ring As Saunders Faces Cuban

Much has been made of the fighting Gypsy DNA coursing through the young veins of Billy Joe Saunders, and tomorrow night, the 19-year-old lightweight from the Travelers' site near Welwyn in Hertfordshire hopes to strike a blow for his country, his Romany tradition and for himself.

Saunders is the first Gypsy to go to the Olympics to represent Great Britain. He wears the distinction with pride. But every athlete in Beijing, all 11,000 of them, has lineage and Saunders knows the man standing opposite him in the Workers Gymnasium will bring as much rich history into the ring as he does.

Standing in the way of Saunders's progress through this Olympic tournament is Carlos Banteaux Suarez, and only one word is needed to spell out the threat he poses: Cuban. Banteaux is not only the Cuban champion, he is the best Cuban at these Olympics, and there is no higher praise. He arrived via the Pan-American championships in Cuenca, Ecuador, earlier this year, winning gold in style. He is 21, two years older than Saunders, and, at 5ft 9in, a little taller. Saunders could not have drawn a tougher foe.

Saunders neither trades on his roots nor denies them and his openness is infectious in a squad that oozes contentment. As far as reliable records can ascertain, his boxing pedigree stretches back to his great grandfather, Absolom Beeney, who boxed bare-knuckle in the traveling booths for beer money. He is 95 and will be watching Billy Joe on TV back in Welwyn, along with Billy Joe's brother, Tom, a professional cruiser weight, and scores of family members. Billy Joe's father, also Tom, is the only relative who has made the journey to China and will be at ringside.

It is likely that further mining of the Saunders and Beeney past would dig up a few other members of the clan who swapped blows for fun or money. Saunders boxes with the zest of a true enthusiast.

None of Banteaux's family could afford the journey, but the Cuban team will be his family on the night. They are a tight-knit group. Banteaux is classically educated in the Cuban way, a master of picking his punches with a flourish, so as to catch the eye of the officials. He will seek to manoeuvre Saunders to that side of the ring where two of the five judges are seated before doing his best work. If he gets an early lead, legitimately or through the unreliable scoring, he will run like a rabbit to the final bell.

That is the test for Saunders. His Olympics will be over after just one dazzling bout (his first-round victory over the world bronze medalist Adem Kilicci was the most impressive of Britain's three wins so far) if he lets the more experienced Cuban dictate the opening pace and strategy. But, as the head coach Terry Edwards was brought to realize when Saunders strung together 37 wins to break into the team ahead of the accomplished Neil Perkins, his welterweight has a boxing brain beyond his years. He is a brilliant mover on the ropes, a key skill in amateur boxing, where the use of space creates openings for counter-attacks, and he has phenomenally quick hands. If he can do to Banteaux what he did to the demoralized Kilicci, Saunders will find himself in the quarter-finals.

It has been a whirlwind journey for Saunders. A year ago, he was no more than a prospect being groomed for 2012. But wins in the first European qualifying tournament, gold in tournaments at Plovdiv, Strandja and Liverpool, as well as bronze at the Pescara tournament in Italy in February, made him a certainty. It is a measure of his talent that Edwards expects so much of him - even against a Cuban.

His namesake, Bradley, goes against the Frenchman Alexis Vastine, whom he beat in the quarter-finals of the world championships, and the Durham light-welter will be buoyed by his powerful one-round stoppage of the Ghanain Samuel Kotey in the first stage.

"Too Sharp", as they call him, was too quick for Kotey, who was so devastated by the loss that he claimed he was hit by low blows. The soreness around his rib cage ought to have told him that was nonsense.

The light-heavyweight Tony Jeffries had a bye in the first round and opens his campaign against Eleider Alvarez. The Colombian won gold at the South American Games in 2006 and the Pan American Games last year, knocking out the Cuban Yusiel Napoles in the third round when trailing 4-6. He is no pushover.

"Jaffa" Jeffries, a bit of an entrepreneur away from the ring - he has a food stall outside the Stadium of Light in Sunderland - ensured his ticket here last year, when he reached the quarterfinals of the world championships in Chicago. The former bouncer has come up through the junior ranks with a string of golds. The one he really wants might be beyond him, but he will be competitive for as long as he is in the tournament.