By Scott Gilfoid: British middleweight champion Chris Eubank Jr. (22-1, 17 KOs) expects there to be fireworks for his title defense of his strap against little known unbeaten Tom Doran (17-0, 7 KOs) in a little over two weeks on June 25 on Sky Box Office pay-per-view at the O2 Arena in London, UK.
This fight is part of the Anthony Joshua vs. Dominic Breazeale fight card, and I must say it doesn’t measure up nearly as well as that fight. I mean, if you like watching slaughters, then Eubank Jr-Doran might be your cup of tea. I’m a different breed.
I like seeing competitive fights and this was does not shape up to be competitive unless Eubank Jr. chooses to fight at one-quarter speed for the full 12 rounds to carry Doran.
Eubank Jr. expects the 28-year-old Doran to fight hard because he hasn’t learned how to lose yet. It’s definitely true that Doran hasn’t lost a fight during his seven-year pro career, but he also hasn’t been fighting a lot of top notch opponents. Indeed, Doran has yet to fight a super talented fighter during his career. There has been zero trash talking between Eubank Jr. and Doran, which is unusual for Eubank Jr. because he usually has a bit of trash talking between him and his opponents.
Doran is well mannered and not making any bold predictions about the fight. Obviously, Doran knows what he’s up against in this fight. He’s not just fighting a British 160lb champion. He’s fighting a world class operator in Eubank Jr., who probably should be holding own the WBO middleweight title right now if he could get a rematch against Billy Joe Saunders.
There is nothing in Doran’s game that suggests that he’ll do anything but lose and lose badly to the 26-year-old Eubank Jr. on June 25. About the best we can hope for is a competitive fight that lasts at least into the later rounds so that the fans can see a good fight instead of a pure massacre. That’s kind of what I expect to see in this fight.
The best guys Doran has faced thus far are as follows: Craig Cunningham, Max Maxwell, an Luke Keeler. Those are not exactly household names on the world scene, are they?
“He’s undefeated and doesn’t know how to lose so it’s always interesting to fight against a man like that. They want to do everything in their power to keep that undefeated record. I expect fireworks and to go to war,” said Eubank Jr. about Doran to skysports.com. “It has the potential to be one of my toughest. In his previous performances, he showed heart and punching power. I’m definitely not taking him for granted.”
It’s kind of troubling that Eubank Jr’s promoter Eddie Hearn would bother adding a mismatch like this to the Anthony Joshua vs. Dominic Breazeale card. Eubank Jr. wants to defend his British title, and I suspect he’ll make two more defenses of the strap before he chooses to give it up. Eubank Jr. apparently wants to win the Lonsdale belt.
For him to accomplish that, he’ll need to defend the strap three times. This is the first defense of the British strap against Doran. Eubank Jr. will need to defend the belt two more times. That’s not going to be easy for him to do unless Hearn can have him fighting every couple of months, because Eubank Jr. is in negotiations for a fight against IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin.
That fight will likely take place in August or September, because that’s when GGG expects to fight again. I do not see Golovkin fighting Eubank Jr. in December of this year. Golovkin will be looking to fight WBO middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders or Saul “Canelo” Alvarez.
“There’s no bad blood. It’s new for me. I’m used to guys really going at me and saying some choice words about me before fights. He’s done none of that and it’s refreshing,” said Eubank Jr. about Doran.
Doran doesn’t need to rile up Eubank Jr., because he’s already badly over-matched as it is. The worst thing Doran needs is an angry and highly motivated Eubank Jr. on June 25, because that would make it worse for him inside the ring. This fight is really bad news for Doran because he’s so badly over-matched.
Doran should focus on hitting and moving all night long if he wants to see the final bell. We saw how some of Eubank Jr’s past opponents Gary O’Sullivan and Nick Blackwell did poorly when they stood in front of him and fought against the ropes.
Since Doran doesn’t have the punching power to trade with Eubank Jr., he needs to be on his bike and jabbing for as long as he can because he’ll likely get destroyed if he tries to actually fight him.