By Scott Gilfoid: Promoter Barry Hearn thinks #1 WBA middleweight contender Chris Eubank Jr. (21-1, 16 KOs) has a chance to create big things with his pro career. Hearn believes that the 26-year-old Eubank Jr. has the potential to surpass his famous father Chris Eubank Sr’s career if things work well for him. Eubank Sr. was involved with 19 world title fights in his career.
Whether Eubank Jr. succeeds or not at the upper level of the 160lb division starts next year, when he faces WBA “regular” middleweight champion Daniel Jacobs (31-1, 28 KOs) for his world tile. Eubank Jr. earned the right to fight Jacobs last Saturday when he beat Gary “Spike” O’Sullivan by a 7th round knockout in a WBA World middleweight title eliminator.
“He has the personality and at the same time, I think he’s more likely to express himself on the world stage whereas Eubank Sr was more of a UK-based fighter,” Hearn said to Skysports.com. “I don’t think there’s any question he will get the chance to do it but that depends on him,” said Hearn.
Hearn needs to reign in his ambitions for Eubank Jr., because I think he could be in for a big disappointment in the near future when/if Eubank Jr. gets knocked out by Jacobs next year. I mean, I could see at once in watching the Eubank Jr-O’Sullivan fight that Eubank Jr. is a totally vulnerable fighter who isn’t ready to fight at the big time against the true talents.
Yeah, Eubank Jr. can fight guys like Billy Joe Saunders, who can’t punch, but if you put him in with the likes of Jacobs, Gennady Golovkin, Tureano Johnson, Arthur Abraham or Andy Lee, I see Eubank Jr. getting knocked out straightaway. I don’t know why Hearn can’t see that for himself. If I was Eubank Jr’s promoter, I would have been seriously in a state of depression after watching how unstable he looked against O’Sullivan.
Eubank Jr. had the look of a fighter who has chin, stamina and composure problems that won’t be easily solved. He just does not look ready for the big time right now, and I don’t know when he will be.
To be sure, Barry and Eddie Hearn can throw Eubank Jr. in the deep end with Jacobs, but I think he’s going to be floundering around like a person knocked overboard at sea without a lifejacket on. I think Eubank Jr. is going to sink almost immediately against Jacobs once the bombs start flying.
Since it looks like the Hearns are going to stick Eubank Jr. in that fight no matter what, my advice would be for Eubank Jr. to do a lot of running, a lot of holding and a lot of jabbing. No way should Eubank Jr. think about throwing any of his power punches, because Jacobs will counter him immediately and knock him out cold.
Eubank Jr. also should avoid completely the posing that he was doing last Saturday night after throwing punches, because if he tries that nursery school stuff with Jacobs, he’s going to get his head taken off right away. Jacobs’s eyes will get really big if he sees Eubank Jr. stop to pose after throwing a punch, and he’ll immediately plant him on the canvas after landing a huge right hand or left hook.
“He’s [Eubank] got the chance. He’s the mandatory challenger for the WBA title and he has the ability to beat his dad, but that is just numbers,” Hearn said. “His dad stayed around for 19 world title fights. That’s what I want to see him beat.”
I don’t think Eubank Jr. can ever be as good as his dad was, because Eubank Sr’s best asset was a good chin. He also had good punching power and decent hand speed. Eubank Jr. doesn’t have a great chin, he’s not that fast, and his punching power is less than overwhelming. Eubank Jr. wins his fights by landing an accumulation of blows after many rounds of landing punches.
That style only works against limited flat-footed fighters like O’Sullivan that are standing stationary and are easily to hit. The guys that Eubank Jr. will be fighting at this point in his career are guys like Jacobs, Golovkin, and Tureano Johnson. Those guys hit back and they don’t miss much, unlike O’Sullivan, who was missing shots over and over again against Eubank Jr.
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