By Scott Gilfoid: Chris Eubank Jr. (23-1, 18 KOs) says he’s going to be moving up to challenge IBO super middleweight champion Renold Quinlan (11-1, 7 KOs) for his IBO title in February in a fight on ITV Box Office pay-per-view at a still to be determined date and venue. Eubank Jr. announced the news on his Twitter and Facebook accounts for the fight against the 27-year-old Quinlan, who comes from Australia.
Eubank Jr. says that after he beats Quinlan, he’ll be looking to challenge the top names at 160 and 168.
Quinlan recently captured the vacant IBO super middleweight title against 35-year-old former IBF/WBA middleweight champion Daniel Geale last October in Australia. Quinlan stopped Geale in the 2nd round. It was definitely a good win for Quinlan, but it didn’t really say much about how good or not so good he is, because Geale is not the same fighter that he once was. Going into the Quinlan fight, Geale had lost 3 out of his last 5 fights. That’s pretty poor if you ask me. Further, Geale is NOT a super middleweight. He’s been a middleweight his entire career. He moved up to 168 to fight Quinlan, but he’s not a legitimate super middleweight fighter. Now if Quinlan had beaten a good super middleweight in the division, then you could get excited about the guy and say he’s definitely a good fighter.
My first World Title fight is less than 2 months away 👊🏽👊🏽👊🏽 #TeamEubank pic.twitter.com/QqIY7yFe7k
— Chris Eubank Jr (@ChrisEubankJr) December 13, 2016
Quinlan was beaten two years ago by little known Jake Carr by a 10 round unanimous decision. It was a close fight, but Quinlan still lost by the scores 96-95, 96-94 and 96-95. Carr was recently knocked out in the 6th round by Mike Gavronski (22-2-1, 14 KOs) last September. This is the same Gavronski who was beaten by journeyman Dashon Johnson and Tureano Johnson. Gavronski was stopped by Johnson in the 8th, and SOUNDLY beaten by Tureano Johnson by a 10 round unanimous decision in 2014 by the scores 99-91 x 3. All this shows you what kind of fighter Quinlan is.
A win for Eubank Jr. over Quinlan won’t mean much, because the Australian fighter isn’t ranked in the top 15 by any of the sanctioning bodies. He’s technically the IBO champion, but he’s not holding any of the major belts at 168. Some boxing fans see the IBO belt as a major belt, whereas others see it as a step below a major title. Middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin has the IBO title in his possession, but I’m not sure that it’s held in as high esteem as the other world title belts.
Here’s what Eubank Jr. said on his social media site about his fight against Renold Quinlan:
“I’m excited to announce the next step in my career is finally here,” said Eubank Jr. “February 2017 will see the UK’s biggest commercial broadcaster show live and exclusive coverage of my first world title fight on ITV Box Office. “I will be jumping back into the ring once again & headlining a huge night of boxing with a top undercard, to fight for the IBO Super Middleweight World Championship against Renold Quinlan. It’s a privilege to be launching this new channel, I have worked my entire life to get a world title shot & to do it on a stage like this is a dream opportunity. This is a big step forward in my career & after I win my first World Championship Belt I’m coming for any & every man that holds a middle or super-middle weight world title. ITV exposed my father to the Great British public 26 years ago & in 2017 it will be time for the Next Generation to step up to the plate.”
Eubank Jr. is ranked #2 WBA, #2 WBC, and #4 IBF at middleweight. He had the chance to fight Golovkin last September for his titles, but he chose not to take the fight. Instead, welterweight Kell Brook moved up in weight to 160 and fought Golovkin on September 10, and was stopped in round five in their fight on Sky Box Office PPV at the O2 Arena in London, UK.
That would have been a HUGE payday for the 27-year-old Eubank Jr., and you have to see as a missed opportunity for him. He should have taken it. Fighting Quinlan on ITV PPV might not bring in a lot of buys. It’s not really a PPV worthy fight in my estimation, and I don’t think that Eubank Jr. has beaten anyone for him to become a PPV fighter in the UK as of yet. You never know though. If the British boxing fans are willing to pay to see IBF heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua bludgeon over-matched opposition like Dominic Breazeale, Charles Martin, and Eric Molina, then they might happily purchase a fight between Eubank Jr. and the little known Quinlan.
Personally, I think Eubank Jr. vs. Quinlan is a HORRIBLE fight to launch Eubank Jr’s career as a PPV headliner. If Eubank Jr. and his handlers feel that he’s now ready to make news by becoming a PPV headliner, then they should have least put him in with a well-known super middleweight title like Arthur Abraham, Lucian Bute, Callum Smith, George Groves or David Benavidez. I don’t know that Eubank Jr. could beat all or even some of those guys. But if you’re going to put a fight on PPV, then it makes sense to fight someone that the boxing fans know about. Maybe Quinlan is a big name in Australia, but I doubt that he’s well-known in the UK, and that’s where the fight will be sold.
It’s unclear if Eubank Jr. is going to move back down to 160 after he beats Quinlan or if he’s going to stay in that weight class. I don’t think Eubank Jr. has the physique to be fighting at 168. Those guys are a little bit bigger than Eubank Jr. It might be Eubank Jr’s only real chance of winning a world title for the next three to five years. If he fights Golovkin, I think he gets destroyed piece by piece in that fight. As long as Golovkin is around, I can’t see Eubank Jr. doing anything. But if he moves up to 168, he might get lucky against champions Badou Jack, James DeGale, Gilberto Ramirez or Tyson Zeuge.