Haye: Eubank Jr. capable of beating Golovkin

By Boxing News - 07/02/2016 - Comments

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By Scott Gilfoid: Chris Eubank Jr. (23-1, 18 KOs) has very little chance of beating KO artist Gennady “GGG” Golovkin (35-0, 32 KOs) in September for his IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC middleweight straps. The boxing world as a whole sees Eubank Jr. as pretty much over-matched against Golovkin, except for a small few. David Haye believes Eubank Jr. has got the goods to pull off the upset against GGG.

Haye says he sparred with Eubank Jr. in the past, and he’s seen him spar with former super middleweight champion Carl Froch and George Groves, two fighters that were bigger than him. Golovkin, 5’10 ½”is a little shorter than the 5’11” Eubank Jr. However, Golovkin’s punching power is extraordinary, whereas Eubank Jr. only has moderate punching power. He does not have major power. Eubank Jr. wins his fights basically by out-landing his opposition, and hitting them with a lot of uppercuts, which is his favorite weapon. If you take away Eubank Jr’s uppercuts, he’s a very ordinary fighter.

It’s not hard to negate an uppercut, but Eubank Jr’s opposition has been so mediocre that they didn’t have clue one how to take away his uppercuts. If they did know how, they would have likely beaten him, because his power has no better than many of the guys he’s faced during his career. Indeed, I rate Gary “Spike” O’Sullivan, Billy Joe Saunders, and Dmitry Chudinov as all having better power than Eubank Jr.

“Chris Eubank Jnr is the only fighter capable of beating Golovkin,” said Haye to skysports.com. “The only person at middleweight currently who has the ability, mindset and the nerve to beat Golovkin is Chris Eubank Jnr. I’ve seen him up close, I’ve sparred with him, I’ve watched him spar with Carl Froch and George Groves, who are both a weight above him, and he always gives a great account of himself.”

I’m happy that Haye says that Eubank Jr. gave a good account of himself against Froch and Groves, but the reality is, Golovkin would destroy both of those fighters in my view. It’s doubtful that Eubank Jr had his way against Froch and Groves, and was able to destroy them. If Eubank Jr. couldn’t dominate Froch and Groves, then he has no business being in the ring with GGG, because he surely would dominate those two and take them.

If I were to pick from a list of middleweights that I think could potentially beat Golovkin under the right circumstances, Eubank Jr. wouldn’t be on my list. He wouldn’t make the grade. I see Eubank Jr. as more of a guy I would pick if I wanted to find contenders that could beat domestic level opposition. Heck, I’d have Eubank Jr. as a great fighter of domestic level opposition, but not for beating GGG.

I rate the following middleweights as better than Eubank Jr:

Daniel Jacobs

Tureano Johnson

Billy Joe Saunders

Peter Quillin

Andy Lee

David Lemieux

Hassan N’Dam

Ryota Murata

Martin Murray

Jorge Sebastian Heiland

Alfonso Blanco

Curtis Stevens

Maciej Sulecki

Sergiy Derevyanchenko – this guy is very good

“I’m a big fan of his, I’ve watched him develop and progress over the years and I was commentating for Sky at ringside for his last fight and he looked brilliant. He looked like a proper pound-for-pound fighter,” said about Eubank Jr.

Since I don’t think Eubank Jr. can hang with the top 15 middleweights on my above list, I don’t think he stands a chance of beating a wrecking machine like Golovkin. Haye obviously believes in Eubank Jr., but I wouldn’t be too hopeful if I were him. Haye needs to step back, have a good cup of coffee, and look at some of Eubank Jr’s past fights with his eyes fully open. Haye then needs to sit down and watch some of the fights of Sergiy Derevyanchenko, Jacobs, Sulecki and Tureano Johnson, and realize that Eubank Jr. would be out of his class even against those fighters. Believe, Eubank Jr. is not going to be able be able to hit those guys with his predictable uppercuts. Those are talented world class fighters, not domestic level scrubs like the ones Eubank Jr. has been facing though much of his career.

Eubank Jr. will still be alright in terms of his career even if Golovkin knocks him out, because he’s going to get a lot of publicity from the fight. Eubank Jr. will also make a lot of money for him and his promoters at Matchroom Sport. Never the less, losing to a fighter as talented as Golovkin won’t leave Eubank Jr. looking nearly as bad than if he were to lose to one of the top middleweights on my list.

Losing to those guys will show the boxing world where Eubank Jr. stands in the pecking order in the the 160lb division. He’s not a future world champion in view; at least not if he has go through one of those fighters. Believe me, if you put Eubank Jr. in the ring with the likes of Sulecki, Tureanko Johnson or Derevyanchenko, he’s going to get battered and blasted out at some point. I’m just saying.