By Scott Gilfoid: Matchroom Sport promoter Eddie Hearn says he’s in the process of negotiating a fight between his fighter #2 WBA, #3 WBC Chris Eubank Jr. (22-1, 17 KOs) and IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin (35-0, 32 KOs) for September or October of this year. Hearn believes that Eubank Jr. will give Golovkin his second biggest payday behind a match-up against Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, which Hearn does not see happening for GGG in 2016.
According to Hearn, Eubank Jr. and his dad Chris Eubank Sr. are obsessed with making the Golovkin fight because they believe they know how to beat him. Their unshakable confidence now has Hearn believing that Eubank Jr. can pull off a potential upset against Golovkin.
Hearn says Eubank Jr. would certainly beat all 35 of Golovkin’s previous opponents he’s fought since turning pro in 2004. In other words, Eubank Jr. beats the likes of David Lemieux, Martin Murray, Curtis Stevens, Matthew Macklin, Daniel Geale, Kassim Ouma, and Willie Monroe. Those the best guys Golovkin has fought thus far in the pro ranks.
“We’re in negotiations for September or October,” said Hearn to IFL TV about Golovkin vs. Eubank Jr. negotiations being under way. “[It will take place] here. I’m saying he’s a massive underdog in that fight. But when you think about styles, he’s [Eubank Jr] got an unbelievable work rate, Eubank. He’s got a great chin. Does he punch hard enough concern Golovkin? Maybe or maybe not. He really hasn’t been hit that much. The belief from his team is mind blowing. My instructions from Eubank is to make that fight. Yes [Eubank Jr. would have beaten every fighter Golovkin has ever faced as a pro]. When you look at Golovkin’s resume, it’s not that impressive, is it? Curtis Stevens was a decent fighter; Murray, of course. Lemieux? Has he boxed the elite fighters? Not really. They say, ‘this is how we can beat Golovkin, and I know we can do it.’ I said do we try and make Billy Joe or James DeGale? ‘No, give us Golovkin!’ They’re obsessed with that fight. They don’t want any other fight. Golovkin is the only focus,” said Hearn.
Well, if Canelo chooses to play it safe by facing someone else other than Triple G this year, then we’ll definitely be seeing Golovkin face either Eubank Jr. or Saunders. I think he’ll go with whichever fighter brings the biggest payday for him. Hearn seems to believe that Eubank Jr. brings the most money for Golovkin. Eubank Jr. will need to bring the most money for him to have a chance of getting that fight.
I don’t know that I agree that Eubank Jr. can actually beat Golovkin, but then again, I’m not impressed with overly confident people. It looks like Hearn is unfortunately. Fighters with supreme confidence are a dime a dozen, and sadly they rarely have the talent to back it up. When you see someone with the kind of confidence that Eubank Jr. possesses, it just tells you that he’s in for a rude awakening. Yeah, I can already hear the excuses coming from Eubank Jr. after he loses to Golovkin.
I hope I’m wrong. I just think we might hear Eubank Jr. talking about this or about that in trying to explain the reasons why he lost to GGG. It would be easier to buy into Eubank Jr. having the talent to beat Golovkin if one hadn’t seen how average he looked in his loss to Billy Joe Saunders, and how flustered he looked at times in his fight against Gary O’Sullivan. Eubank Jr. did not look like the type of fighter that can beat Golovkin in either of those two fights.
I’d like to see Eubank Jr. actually prove himself against someone that’s actually good before fighting GGG. Right now, Eubank Jr. is 0-1 as a pro in terms of fighting decent level opposition. He lost to Saunders in 2014. All the rest of the guys Eubank Jr. has fought have domestic level guys like Nick Blackwell or fringe level contenders like Gary O’Sullivan and Dmitry Chudinov. Eubank Jr’s next fight this month is against domestic level fighter Tom Doran (17-0, 7 KOs) on June 25 at the O2 Arena in London, UK. If Eubank Jr. is capable of beating GGG, then why is he fighting guys like Doran and Blackwell? I’m just saying.