By Scott Gilfoid: #2 WBA middleweight contender Chris Eubank Jr. (21-1, 16 KOs) will be fighting for the British middleweight title tonight against champion Nick Blackwell (19-3-1, 8 KOs) at the Wembley Arena in London, UK. This is a belt that the 26-year-old Eubank Jr. wanted to win for some reason.
Eubank Jr. says that after he beats Blackwell tonight, he wants go after a world title against WBO middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders or WBA champion Daniel Jacobs if he can’t get the Saunders fight. It doesn’t look like Saunders is going to do Eubank Jr. any favors by giving him a world title fight off the back of a win over Blackwell. As such, Eubank Jr. will probably need to go the arguably much tougher route by going after the faster, stronger, more experienced, and more talented Jacobs.
Eubank Jr. could have already had the Jacobs fight, but instead he chose to fight for the domestic strap against Blackwell. Eubank Jr. might have to wait in line before he can fight for the world title against Jacobs, because it’s doubtful that the American talent will give him a title shot until he becomes the WBA mandatory challenger again. Eubank Jr. already defeated Gary O’Sullivan to become the #1 WBA mandatory last December. However, Eubank Jr. chose to not take the fight with Jacobs and instead fight Blackwell.
Given how much waiting there is to get a fight for a mandatory sport, it was a pretty stupid move on Eubank Jr’s part. He’s not someone that will likely get a world title shot against Jacobs in a voluntary defense, because Jacobs doesn’t face difficult opponents when making voluntary defenses. Eubank Jr. is going to need to work his way to the #1 position again before he can get a title shot against Jacobs. That might not happen until at least 2017, possibly even 2018. That’s why it such a bone-headed move on Eubank Jr’s part not to take the fight with Jacobs when he had earned the mandatory spot last December with his win over O’Sullivan. Talk about your wasted opportunities.
“The title is mine. Nothing is going to stop me from getting it,” Eubank Jr. said to Fighthype.com. “I don’t see it going differently [than his last fight against Gary O’Sullivan]. Blackwell is a fairly solid fighter, but his technique and skills, what he brings into the ring, isn’t enough to compete with the fire power I’m going to be putting on. He’s going to come out and swing for the fences in the first round. That’s what he tells me. But someone talking before a fight and somebody actually getting in there and doing it is two different things. It’s all a facade. He’s putting on a front. He’s trying to hide his true feelings, which is fear. But if he does [come out attacking], then good. It makes for an even beer show for the fans. If he does decide to employ that tactic, he’s going to be even more open. If you’re open against me, then you’re going to get knocked out. I’m a fighter, I’m a warrior; there’s nothing more that a warrior to do than to knock his opponent out and make his opponent quit. Nobody wants to go 12 rounds. So yeah, I’m going in there looking to stop him. If it does go 12 rounds, which I really doubt it will, it will be a majority points decision to me is my prediction. After I win the British title, I move on to world honors. I start walking down the path to fight for a world title. Obviously, I have a history with a man called Billy Joe Saunders. He’s now a world champion. So there’s nothing more I would love than to get that rematch and take that world title off of him. Yes, and if that doesn’t come about, then there’s [Daniel] Jacobs. I’ll definitely be on the path to fight for a world title after this one,” said Eubank Jr.
Eubank Jr. has the speed, power, and talent advantage over the light hitting Blackwell. That should be enough for Eubank Jr. to win this fight with ease. What Eubank Jr. might not have as much as Blackwell is heart. Blackwell appears to be a gutsier fighter that is willing to put it all on the line even against guys that are clearly better than himself. We saw that in Blackwell’s fights against Martin Murray, Billy Joe Saunders, Max Bursak and Sergey Khomitsky.
Blackwell couldn’t match those fighters in the talent department, but he still gave them a lot of problems in the process of losing or in the case of the Khomitsky fight, getting a controversial draw. When you look at Eubank Jr’s fights, he seems to come unnerved when he’s dealing with adversity. Eubank Jr. seemed to come unwired against Saunders in the first six rounds of that fight. If not for Saunders gassing out in the second half of the fight, it would have been a total shutout for him. Eubank Jr. is horrible when dealing with a skilled fighter. I can only imagine what he’ll be like when he gets inside the ring with talents like Jacobs and Gennady Golovkin.
Eubank Jr. is not a big puncher despite his bold talk. He’s a decent puncher, but not in the class of middleweights like Golovkin, Jacobs, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, O’Sullivan, and Andy Lee. There are even more middleweights with more power than Eubank Jr. He’s just not a puncher. He’s more of a boxer first and a puncher second. Eubank Jr. struggles against counter punchers, and he doesn’t look good when being pressured.
If O’Sullivan hadn’t gassed out after a few rounds in their fight last December, I think he would have beaten Eubank Jr. down and scored a knockout. He was giving Eubank Jr. major problems. O’Sullivan created the blueprint in how to beat Eubank Jr. more so than Saunders. There’s not too many middleweights that can out-box Eubank Jr. the way Saunders did, but there are a lot of middleweights that can use the pressure style that O’Sullivan was having success with to get the better of Eubank Jr.
My prediction for tonight’s Eubank Jr-Blackwell fight is Eubank Jr. winning by an 8th round stoppage. Blackwell has no power whatsoever, and he’s not going to be able to keep Eubank Jr. off of him for long. Eubank Jr. throws tons of uppercuts. He gets away with throwing those shots because he faces limited opposition. A good fighter will take advantage of Eubank Jr’s bad habit of throwing constant uppercuts by nailing him with right hands to the head each time he dips to throw an uppercut. I’m not sure that Blackwell is smart enough to figure out Eubank Jr’s tendencies the way talented middleweights would.
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