Eubank Jr. says, “Gennady Golovkin, I’m coming for you!”

By Boxing News - 06/26/2016 - Comments

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By Scott Gilfoid: Chris Eubank Jr’s victory over a hopelessly over-matched domestic level fighter Tom Doran (17-1, 7 KOs) last Saturday night seems to have taken Eubank Jr’s confidence to a new level, because he’s not only calling out the highly talented IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin (35-0, 32 KOs), but he’s also saying he wants WBO belt holder Billy Joe Saunders, who already beat him two years ago in 2014.

Eubank Jr. defeated Doran by a 4th round knockout at the O2 Arena in London, UK. Doran was knocked down four times in the fight, and he looked like he had wondered into the wrong ring. He just did not belong there.

It’s not Doran’s fault that he was over-matched; it Eubank Jr’s fault. He’s the one that decided to step back from facing world class fighters recently to go back to the domestic level.

“Now for me it’s about making statements,” said Eubank Jr. after his win over Doran last Saturday night. “I feel like I’m at the world level now. I feel like I can challenge for world titles. Gennady Golovkin, I’m coming for you! I’m coming for your belts, man. Everyone is scared of you for some reason. People think you’re indestructible. You’re not, and I’m coming. If I can’t get you, then [I’ll fight] Saunders; you can come as well. Anybody out there with a world title, I’m coming for you. I’m a fighter. Any fighter worth his salt wants to fight the best and become the best. I want the toughest challenge out there, and this fight tonight, Tom Doran, a solid fighter, but it didn’t excite me. I went in there and it was just another day at the office for me. I want the big names and I feel like I’m ready,” said Eubank Jr.

Well, the Golovkin-Eubank Jr. fight still isn’t made, so I suppose that there’s still time for Eubank Jr. to back out if he wants to. He did his thing by calling out Golovkin and getting attention from the boxing fans and the media last Saturday night.

Eubank Jr. can now continue to defend his British middleweight strap against weak opposition rather than risking his hide facing Golovkin or one of the other talented middleweights like Daniel Jacobs. Golovkin’s promoter Tom Loeffler says he would like to make the Eubank Jr. fight, but he’s not sure if it will happen or not. In other words, he’s not completely sure that Eubank Jr. and his dad Chris Eubank Sr. will make the fight.

I think Golovkin is the closest thing you’re going to get to an indestructible fighter in the sport right now. There isn’t top fighter in the division that is dominating the way that Golovkin is right now; no one. You can’t say that IBF heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua is dominating like GGG, because he’s not facing the best.

Joshua’s last two fights have come against a paper champion in Charles Martin and a fringe contender in #13 IBF Dominic Breazeale. Joshua isn’t fighting the best, but Golovkin is and he’s knocking everyone out.

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It doesn’t matter if Eubank Jr. is scared of Golovkin or not. Being fearless doesn’t mean you win. There have been countless foolhardy fighters through the history of the sport that were 100 percent certain they would win a fight against guys that were clearly out of their league, and they lost badly to those fighters. Eubank Jr. can deny reality and promote himself as the guy that CAN and WILL beat Golovkin, but the fact of the matter is, he’s got very, very little chance of doing that. The slow, mechanical fighter that I saw last night against Doran would be lucky if he could beat some of Golovkin’s past opponents.

Like I said before, I see Eubank Jr. as Willie Monroe Jr. 2.0. I think both guys are the same in terms of talent, power and overall ability. It would be a toss-up fight if they faced each other. I think Eubank Jr. should prove himself against Monroe Jr. or David Lemieux before he can get a fight against Golovkin, because it’s not good that he’s going from fighting Doran to fighting Golovkin. That kind of move is bizarre. In boxing, fighters usually go from facing a good B+ level fighter to facing a world champion. They don’t scour the C-level ranks for opposition, and then beat some poor guy, and then start crowing about the victory and calling out the best fighter in the sport.

When Chris Eubank Jr. was asked what it takes to beat Golovkin, he said, “Fearlessness, which he [Eubank Jr.] already has. Golovkin should, if he’s clever, he should be watching this young man here.”

Eubank Jr. had bounced back nicely after his loss to Saunders by beating fringe contenders Gary O’Sullivan and Dmitry Chudinov. Eubank Jr. was the mandatory challenger to WBA middleweight champion Daniel Jacobs, and the logical thing for him to do would have been take the fight to try and win the WBA title. Instead of making that move, Eubank Jr. stepped back and fought for the British middleweight title against Nick Blackwell last March in beating him by a 10th round knockout. Instead of tossing the trinket in the bin, Eubank Jr. opted to defend it last Saturday night against the pedestrian Tom Doran.

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It was a weird move, to be sure. But what is even weirder is that now Eubank Jr. is acting like he accomplished something in beating Doran, and says he wants Golovkin. I mean, I don’t see Doran as the type of guy that you would normally use as a springboard to fight the best in the division in Golovkin.

WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder said last night that he would like to see Eubank Jr. fight someone else BEFORE facing Golovkin, meaning he would like to see Eubank Jr. fight someone good before taking that fight so that he can get better prepared.

If Eubank Jr. does face Golovkin in August or September like Loeffler wants, it’s going to be really difficult for him. Golovkin is so, so talented, and Eubank Jr. is so limited, predictable, slow and not particularly powerful. I think Eubank Jr. needs to cut his teeth on a world class opponent like Willie Monroe Jr. before facing Golovkin. If he beats Monroe, then I say he should fight Golovkin.