By Ian Aldous: On December 12th at the O2 Arena in London, interim WBA belt holder, Chris Eubank Jr. (20-1) will face Gary ‘Spike’ O’Sullivan (22-1) in an eliminator for the WBA world middleweight championship. The winner will move on to battle either Daniel Jacobs or Peter Quillin next year. The bitter rivals will finally face-off after a lengthy back-and-forth between the two has boiled in the background. The fight was officially announced at a press conference in central London today. I was there to see what the rivals and their teams had to say.
It was a predominantly mellow press conference with just a couple of moments that might have seen tempers frayed. The traditional head-to-head photo opportunity at the end didn’t materialize due to Chris Eubank Jr.’s refusal. O’Sullivan used the head-to-head opportunity in the build up to his fight against Anthony Fitzgerald to kiss his opponent.
Eubank Jr. refused it on the basis that he didn’t want the same to happen to him! He went on to call O’Sullivan a “keyboard warrior” and “twitter terrorist” after a lengthy and heated social media rivalry has bubbled between the two, yet when they came face-to-face – O’Sullivan was relatively quiet. He was less than complimentary about O’Sullivan’s style, “I see him as a one dimensional fighter” with a “come forward approach” and that he’ll “run out of ideas”.
Conspicuous by his absence was Chris Eubank Sr. This is down to the fact that he’s about to enter the ‘I’m A Celebrity’ TV show. He’s always by his son’s side, so it was strange to see him not there today. How long he’s away from training camp will depend on how much the British TV viewing public warm to him. O’Sullivan used the opportunity to ask if Eubank Jr. is “missing your daddy?” . He also declared “I’m gonna knock out this kid next to me” and thinks the fans will be on his side when fight night arrives.
Gary’s trainer, Paschal Collins, made the claim that “people avoid him because he can hit so hard” and that Eubank Jr. is “a big name because of his dad”. He spoke about how the fight is a well deserved chance for his charge to earn a big payday. Also in the corner on December 12th will be Steve Collins, the man who beat Chris Eubank Sr. in two huge mid 1990’s world title fights. This was why Paschal went on to say they’ve “got the blueprint to beat Eubanks, we’ve done it twice”.
Sky Sports’ Adam Smith said “We’re going to have a humdinger” and predicted that the “future is very bright for the winner”, whilst Matchroom Sports’ Eddie Hearn claims December 12th is “one of the best British shows”. Recent super-middleweight world title challenger, Frank Buglioni, told me afterwards that he favours training partner ‘Spike’ to win because of his vast experience and the fact he’s not one dimensional as Eubank Jr. had stated. He also said that the win Eubank Jr. achieved against Dmitry Chudinov “flattered” how good he really is.
The career of Chris Eubank Jr. has so far been enjoyable to watch. He’s rarely in a boring fight and has never been accused of lacking entertainment value when inside the ropes. He’s grown up following in his legendary father’s footsteps and has even begun to take on the infamous mannerisms and quirks Chris Eubank Sr. utilised during his thirteen year career. He’s got a way to go to fully emulate Sr. but things have developed nicely to date. The night he brutally beat up Dmitry Chudinov in February was a fine display and career-saver after the massive disappointment in his previous bout when dropping a close split decision to Billy Joe Saunders. The Chudinov win brought with it the interim WBA 160lbs belt and a change of promoter seven months later. Within a month of signing with Eddie Hearn and his mammoth Matchroom stable, he was out defending his title against the overmatched Tony Jeter (who was a top fifteen WBA ranked fighter) in the main event following Kell Brook’s withdrawal from the October 24th show in Sheffield. He’s already spent time promoted by Mick Hennessy on Channel 5 and Frank Warren on Boxnation, but the Sky Sports coverage he’ll now receive with Eddie Hearn is seemingly where the majority of British pugilists wish to be.
O’Sullivan and Eubank Jr. share a common opponent in the undefeated former British, European and current Commonwealth middleweight champion, Billy Joe Saunders. Saunders inflicted the sole defeats on the pro ledgers of both men. He dealt with the Irishman in a more dominant fashion than he did against Eubank Jr, this would seemingly make Chris a slight favourite with the bookies – read into it what you will. In preparation for the December 12th fight, O’Sullivan has been doing a couple of things of note. He’s been sparring with former undisputed world middleweight champion, Jermain Taylor and will learn greatly from Jermain’s wealth of experience and in-ring skills (albeit somewhat depleted now). That all seems relatively normal when compared with the fact he’s been wrestling alligators as part of his training camp!
Eubank Jr. has been talking a lot about Gennady Golovkin of late and isn’t afraid to tell anyone who’ll listen that he believes he already has the beating of the P4P great. The road to GGG is paved with roadblocks. If he can beat O’Sullivan and then either Jacobs or Quillin, he’ll surely deserve a shot at GGG if he is still at 160lbs.
The championship eliminator will act as a co-headliner to the huge heavyweight main event of Anthony Joshua going up against domestic rival, Dillian Whyte for the British and Commonwealth titles. Also scheduled for the December 12th card are former world title challengers, Tony Bellew and Kevin Mitchell as well as 2012 Olympic champion, Luke Campbell. Watch all the action live on Sky Sports.
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