By Scott Gilfoid: Former IBF middleweight champion Darren Barker was pouring it on real thick today in praising the talent of WBA interim middleweight champion Chris Eubank Jr (19-1, 14 KOs) in saying that he sees him as a future world champion.
Barker feels that the 26-year-old Eubank Jr will be a world champion at some point in his career. Barker doesn’t say when or what division that he’ll be accomplishing this. It’s interesting that Barker isn’t smothering Billy Joe Saunders with compliments because he just beat Eubank Jr last November.
Eubank Jr will be headlining this Saturday’s card at the Sheffield Arena in Sheffield, UK. He’ll be facing 39-year-old fringe contender #13 WBA Tony Jeter (20-3-1, 14 KOs) in a fight that appears to be a horrible mismatch on paper. The Eubank Jr-Jeter fight replaces the Kell Brook vs. Diego Chaves fight as the headline act on the card. Brook had to pull out of the Chaves fight due to a rib injury he sustained training. The Eubank Jr vs. Jeter fight will be televised on Sky Sports 1 starting at 8:00 p.m. this Saturday.
It stands to reason that Saunders should be the one that Barker is slathering his ego up and down.
With the talented Gennady Golovkin collecting all the titles that really count in the 160lb division, Barker is likely talking about Eubank Jr eventually winning the WBA “regular” middleweight title at some point in the future. The World Boxing Association is the sanctioning bodies that has three champion at 160 – Gennady Golovkin, Daniel Jacobs and the interim champ Eubank Jr. Jacobs is the “regular” champion, which some boxing fans refer as the “paper champion” or the nominal champion. Golovkin is the “Super World” middleweight champion.
This isn’t to be confused with him being a super middleweight champion (168). That’s a completely different division. The WBA has decided forever whatever reason to have a lot of champions at 160, and this makes it possible for guys like Eubank Jr to one day win a belt.
I can’t see him being Jacobs though or Peter Quillin, if he defeats Jacobs in their fight in December. If Eubank Jr is going to win that belt, he’s going to need to wait for Jacobs or Quillin to get old enough for him to beat them.
“He’s [Eubank Jr] got bundles of talent,” Barker said via skysports.com. “He’s a great fighter, he can punch. He’s almost the total package. I just think he needs a bit more experience and he could go on to win a world title. I do think he can go that far.”
Eubank Jr doesn’t look good enough to win any of the world titles right now at 160, so that kind of tells you where he’s at talent wise. He obviously can’t beat Billy Joe Saunders, because he already lost to him. About the only thing I can see Eubank Jr does is winning a paper title one of these days when Golovkin blows town and either retires or moves up in weight. There’s no way that Eubank Jr will ever beat a talent like Golovkin. I don’t see that happening even if Golokvin was in his 40s. He’s always going to have much more punching power than Eubank Jr, and he’s always going to have a better jab.
“I think his Dad saying he can beat Golovkin is a bit premature. I know he’s saying one day in the future, but I don’t think he’s in that class yet,” Barker said.
Is Barker trying to suggest that Eubank Jr will eventually beat Golovkin someday? Oh boy, Barker is really going overboard here. The only way I see Eubank Jr “one day” beating Golovkin is in some other sport besides boxing. Maybe in a chess game, hopscotch or a game of cricket. I definitely don’t see Eubank Jr ever being able to beat Golovkin in this lifetime in a boxing match. The difference in talent is just too much for a guy like Eubank Jr to defeat Golovkin. The first time that Eubank Jr starts with his posing after throwing a punch, I see Golovkin nailing him with a huge left hook and flattenng him for the 10 count.
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