By Scott Gilfoid: Last Saturday night, British middleweight Nick Blackwell (19-4-1, 8 KOs) took a terrible beating in his 10th round stoppage loss to #2 WBA contender Chris Eubank Jr. (22-1, 17 KOs) at the Wembley Arena in London, UK. Blackwell, 25, wound up collapsing after the fight and needing to be rushed to the hospital for a brain bleed. Blackwell is reportedly been put in a medically induced coma to treat his brain bleed.
Heavyweights Tyson Fury and Hughie Fury were naturally quite concerned about Blackwell’s health, as they are friends of his and worried about him. Hughie thinks the referee working the fight Victor Loughlin should have stepped in much earlier to stop the fight, because Blackwell was taking horrible punishment in a fight that he had little chance of winning.
The ringside doctor was the one who finally made the call to have the fight halted in the 10th round due to Blackwell’s left eye being completely closed. However, the fight should arguably have been stopped by at least the 6th or 7th round because Blackwell was getting belted around by the harder punching Eubank Jr. Blackwell had nothing to keep Eubank Jr off him, and his defensive skills weren’t at a high enough level to negate Eubank Jr’s offense.
“I hope Nick Blackwell’s okay,” said Hughie to IFL TV. “I’ll say a prayer for him. I hope hope’s alright. To be honest with you, the fight should have been stopped. He kept taking too many clean shots, and the referee should have steppe d in earlier. You could see it was only going to go one way. Nick is a fighter that would die in the ring. Especially his corner should have done something. They should have put the towel in. He was taking too much of a clean beating. I hope he’s okay,” said Hughie.
Hughie (19-0, 10 KOs) fought last night against 40-year-old journeyman Dominick Guinn (35-11-1, 24 KOs), and reportedly beat him by a one-sided 10 round decision by the score of 100-90. Guinn was said to have done next to nothing on offense. Hughie reportedly couldn’t get Guinn out of there no matter how hard he tried, which isn’t a surprise because Guinn has never been knocked out before in his pro career. Hughie’s face looked very red and marked up afterwards, which kind of gives you an indication that the fight wasn’t as easy as many boxing fans thought it would be.
“I just hope Blackwell comes out okay,” said Tyson Fury to IFL TV. “He’s a very good fighter. I’m trying for him. Obviously, he was a different level tonight than Blackwell. Blackwell is a good British level fighter. Obviously, Eubank is a world class fighter. I don’t think he’s [Eubank] improved that much to beat Billy Joe. But to be at a world level in boxing, you need a good jab, and that’s one thing he lacks. If I was his trainer, I’d be working on his jab. He [Blackwell] took a lot of punishment. Nick stood there and took it all on his face and arms and his body. So you’re going to look a million dollars against that. Nick’s a very tough, brave lad, as we all saw tonight. But Nick ain’t Billy Joe Saunders. I think if Billy Joe fights Eubank again, the same thing happens unless he gets caught with a punch and anyone can win with a puncher’s chance. But Billy Joe’s got a good jab, good footwork, great boxing ability. Let’s hope Nick Blackwell comes out alright, because he took a hell of a beating tonight. He done credit to his name, and he did his family proud. Let’s hope he comes out okay, and Eubank moves up to the next stage and gets a rematch with Billy Joe,” said Fury.
I think Eubank Jr. should have never fought Blackwell in the first place. I know the British Boxing Board of Control couldn’t stop the Blackwell vs. Eubank Jr. fight from taking place, but it just seems wrong that a world class fighter like Eubank Jr. chose to fight for a domestic level belt against someone that was so far beneath him in skills and power.
The Eubank Jr. vs. Blackwell match-up had trouble written all over it the moment the fight was made. It was similar to the Kell Brook vs. Kevin Bizier fight that took place last night, but worse because Bizier at least had some power. Bizier was a guy that was only ranked by one of the sanctioning bodies, and he was arguably little more than a 2nd tier fighter with an inflated ranking by the IBF. The outcome was predictable. Bizier got blasted out in two rounds. If someone had stepped in to stop the Blackwell fight early last night, then all of this might have been avoided.
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