Eubank Jr. vs. Doran: Chris wants to make a statement on Saturday

By Boxing News - 06/24/2016 - Comments

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By Scott Gilfoid: Middleweight contender Chris Eubank Jr. (22-1, 17 KOs) came in overweight initially at Friday’s weigh-in for his defense of his British title against Tom Doran (17-0, 7 KOs) on Saturday night at the O2 Arena in London, UK. Eubank Jr. was one ounce over the 160lb weigh-in limit.

Eubank Jr. was able to take off the weight after being given some time to take it off. On the second weigh-in attempt, Eubank Jr. successfully weighed in at 159 ¾ pounds. For his part, Doran weighed in at 158 ¼ pounds.

Eubank Jr. said he wants to make a statement with the win to send a message to IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin that he’s earned his title shot. I’m not sure that beating a 2nd tier fighter like Doran is necessarily a fight that should normally earn someone a title shot, but if that’s what Eubank Jr. wants to believe then what can you say.

“I’m fully focused. I’m not overlooking anybody,” said Eubank Jr. to skysports.com about his opponent Tom Doran. “He’s 17-0, and that makes him a dangerous man. He doesn’t know how to lose yet, which means I’ve got to be on my A-game. Of course, you can’t challenge, you can’t call out the best in the world without putting on top performances. I have to put on a statement. That’s the only way I’m going to earn my stripes to fight for the world championship belts. So Tom Doran is the man I’m going to make my statement against on Saturday night.”

Eubank Jr. could be the next opponent for Triple G in September if he wins his fight against Doran and if his promoter Eddie Hearn can make the fight. Hearn has repeatedly said recently that he can make the fight if both fighters want the fight. With the way that Hearn keeps saying this, I get the feeling that he’s not quite sure whether Eubank Jr. will go through with the fight. To be sure, Eubank Jr. has been doing a lot of talking about wanting to fight GGG, but until the fight gets made, we have no way of knowing whether he’s serious or not.

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I wouldn’t be surprised in the least if Eubank Jr. has been just blabbering about the Golovkin fight in order to score points with the boxing fans in the UK. It looks good when a no name fighter calls out a top name because the fans start believing in that fighter without him having to actually earn his way to the top by fighting the best. It’s called name dropping, and Eubank Jr. and his father have both been doing a lot of that.

“We are aiming always for the top. The target has always been the No 1 position and we’re just about that. My job is to make it so he’s bigger than I was and I can do that,” said Eubank Sr. to skysports.com.

Eubank Jr. should have no problems beating Doran tomorrow night. This is a mismatch straight up.

As far as Golovkin goes, Eubank Jr. stands zero chance of beating him. That fight is like the Eubank Jr. vs. Doran mismatch in my view.