By Gari Jones: In a real action packed fight both fighters gave the watching crowd and those at home a real treat. In a fight that showed tremendous courage, heart and stamina Billy Joe Saunders W21/KO11/L0 took the split decision over Chris Eubank Jr W18/KO13/L1 in a closely fought contest that I feel went the right way.
Billy Joe Saunders showed an impressive array of skills in his fight with Eubank Jr, the jab was effective, he boxed at range and made Eubank Jr miss only to follow with a counter strike. This trend continued for the first six rounds and many people scoring the fight had Saunders up 5-1 or 4-2 by then. This is where I feel Eubank Jr had the fight lost. Despite coming on much stronger in the later stages by then he was behind on the scorecards. And that was the deciding factor of this fight.
Eubank Jr was much stronger and more aggressive than Saunders who did give as well as he got but as the fight went on I felt that Eubank Jr looked the more dangerous. Scoring a number of times in the later rounds with the uppercut it had Saunders looking troubled; this is where I could see the great potential these two had.
By round 10 Eubank Jr’s corner was telling him he needs to go for the knockout win as they felt he was behind on the cards. Saunders and Eubank Jr showed tremendous chins each one was landing shots that by this stage of the fight that would’ve had most fighters reeling.
It should be noted that Eubank Jr was fighting a man of pedigree in Saunders, someone who will most likely be fighting for a World title shot in 2015. Saunders will realise this dream and become a world champion his skill is more than enough to realise that.
I like to study form and assess skills levels in boxers and I can see Saunders was the more experienced and accomplished boxer. Despite the loss I was more impressed with the way Eubank Jr kept coming after his opponent. He didn’t step back and believed he could win it. He may have landed a few winning blows, but Saunders chin was impressive in how he took the blows.
You can see Saunders is the more developed and polished boxer right now. But I feel that Eubank Jr has more talent than Saunders and in the next 2 years given the right development he will become the dominant force. Eubank Jr will learn more from this loss than he will from all his wins. It is the mental side that caught my eye from Eubank Jr. He does not seem to be overawed by the occasion despite what this fight meant. And his performance though rugged at times will get better and more polished.
Eubank Jr’s time will come just not yet, and in the long run I expect him to the No 1 middleweight.
Good things are to come from Saunders and as was said by Saunders himself, if he becomes world champion he will give Eubank Jr the first defence. STAY TUNED.
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