By Scott Gilfoid: European Boxing Union middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders (20-0, 11 KOs) recently said that he’ll hang up the gloves if he loses his next fight to #15 WBO Chris Eubank Jr (17-0, 12 KOs) on November 29th at the ExCel Arena in London, UK.
Eubank Jr, 25, plans on testing Saunders’ word by beating him and then seeing if he will actually retire or not. If Saunders doesn’t retire, then it just means that he was flapping his gums without meaning what he was saying.
If Saunders doesn’t retire, he will need to grasp the reality that he’s probably not going to be a world title holder during his career at 160, because if he can’t beat Eubank Jr then the writing would be on the wall that he wouldn’t have the talent to beat the better middleweights in the division like Gennady Golovkin, Jermain Taylor, Daniel Jacobs, Peter Quillin, Marco Antonio Rubio, Hassan N’Dam, Tureano Johnson, Curtis Stevens, David Lemieux, and Dmitry Chudinov. You can also add Saul “Canelo” Alvarez’s name to that bunch, because he’s very likely to be moving up to the middleweight division soon if he can beat Cotto next year in their catch-weight fight for Cotto’s WBC 160 pound title.
“One thing I picked up from Floyd is a relentless work ethic,” Eubank said via espn.co.uk. “I’m having full sessions without any minute breaks. I’m going to hold Saunders to his word.”
Eubank Jr recently worked out at Mayweather’s gym in Las Vegas, Nevada, and he picked up some things in watching Mayweather train for his rematch against Marcos Maidana. Eubank Jr is working out harder than he was before with only short rest breaks, and he’s getting in the best shape of his life.
Eubank Jr will be fighting this month on October 25th against a still to be determined opponent at the Echo Arena in Liverpool, UK. It’s just a tune-up fight to get him ready for the Saunders match-up. Saunders doesn’t think it’s a good idea for Eubank Jr to be fighting a tune-up, because he sees it as a waste of time for him.
“I’ve heard [Eubank] is fighting on October 25 before our fight,” Saunders said to espn.co.uk. “That’s not a good idea…It’s only going to be a dead body so it won’t do him any good. He’s built his record up by fighting Polish pub fighters.”
It’s not a bad idea for Eubank Jr to take a tune-up because he only has 17 fights under his best as a pro, and every fight will give him more experience, even fights against over-matched opposition.
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