By Jim Dower: Chris Eubank Jr. (25-1, 19 KOs) weighed in on Friday at 166 pounds for his title defense against Avni Yildirim (16-0, 10 KOs) for their quarter-finals of the World Boxing Super Series on Saturday night at the Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle in Stuttgart, Germany.
(Photo credit: World Boxing Super Series)
Yildirim weighed in at 167 lbs. It was a pretty intense faceoff between Eubank Jr. and Yildirim. Neither guy resorted to shoving or slapping, thankfully.
Eubank Jr. will have his IBO super middleweight title on the line Saturday night against Yildirim.
Eubank Jr. is the favorite to win the fight on Saturday. Yildirim, 26, is a lot slower, and he has little in the way of experience at the pro level against quality fighters. In fact, there’s nobody on Yildirim’s resume that you can call a good opponent. The best that Yildirim has faced thus far is Marco Antonio Periban and Aaron Pryor Jr. Those are second tier fighters.
“I am looking forward to the fight, and I believe I will stop my opponent,” said Eubank Jr.
The 28-year-old Eubank Jr. has a very good chance of knocking out Yildirim. He has too much hand speed and too high of a work rate for Yildirim to pull off the upset in this fight. The best chance that Yildirim has to win this fight is to go after Eubank Jr. early and try and nail him with a big shot. If Yildirim waits too long, he’ll be punch drunk from absorbing shots and he’ll likely have little opportunity to get the knockout. Eubank Jr. will be standing in front of Yildirim the entire fight looking to unload. That’s the one flaw that Eubank Jr. has in his game. He’s hittable due to his aggressive style of fighting. It’ll take a good shot to stop Eubank Jr.
“The Ali Trophy is the stage for me to show what Chris Eubank Jr. is about, and I will show that I am the best super-middleweight in the world. I can’t wait to get started in this amazing tournament,” said Eubank Jr.
There’s a lot of bad blood between Eubank Jr. and Yildirim. Both guys want to knock each other out. It should be interesting to see which of them gets their hands raised in this fight. The winner of the World Boxing Super Series stands to make a lot of money. You can understand why both guys want this fight so badly.
The winner of this fight moves on to the semifinals of the World Boxing Super Series. Eubank Jr. believes he’s got the talent to win the tournament. However, there are some quality customers that Eubank Jr. will need to get past for him to win the tournament. He’s got to deal with the likes of George Groves and Callum Smith. Those guys will be looking to take his head off if they get the chance to fight him. Eubank Jr. has been hurt before in his fight against Gary O’Sullivan in 2015. O’Sullivan didn’t have the engine to keep throwing shots after hurting Eubank Jr. earlier in the fight.
“I am going to make the Turkish people proud,” said Yildirim. “I am proud to represent my country and the Turkish flag, and I know I have what it takes to win the Muhammad Ali Trophy starting with beating Eubank. He should prepare for war!”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHU02EMANEs