Eubank Jr. ready to fight Golovkin now

By Boxing News - 08/04/2016 - Comments

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By Scott Gilfoid: #2 WBA, #2 WBC middleweight contender Chris Eubank Jr. (23-1, 18 KOs) took to social media on Thursday to call out unbeaten IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin (35-0, 32 KOs) for a fight. The 26-year-old Eubank Jr. says he’ll take the belts off of Golovkin once he gets down with his scheduled September 10 fight against unbeaten welterweight Kell “Special K” Brook (36-0, 25 KOs).

Eubank Jr. thinks the Golovkin vs. Brook fight is a joke due to Golovkin facing a welterweight rather than someone from his own weight class. Eubank Jr. had been quiet recently, but he likely chose to speak up after Golovkin called him a “clown’ in a recent interview this week.

Golovkin no longer takes Eubank Jr. seriously. If a fight between them is going to take place, it might take some real convincing by Golovkin’s promoter Tom Loeffler for him to expend time and energy on the negotiations.

Golovkin’s trainer Abel Sanchez says a fight against Eubank Jr. is a very real possibility if they can work together. Sanchez says that Eubank Jr’s father Chris Eubank needs to be able to work with them for the fight to be a reality. If not, then Golovkin will look to move up in weight to take on IBF super middleweight champion James DeGale if he’s game.

“GGG when you’re done with child’s play, I’m ready & waiting to take those belts off you in a REAL fight. Oh & I’m in the same weight class as you so it will be fair #Fraud #Say no to bullying,” Eubank Jr said.

Eubank Jr. had a chance to be the one that is facing Golovkin on September 10, but he failed to sign the contract for the fight in time to meet the deadline. Golovkin says that he doubts that Eubank Jr. ever wanted to truly fight him, and he sees him as little more than a clown. It’s unclear whether he thinks Eubank Jr’s motives for showing interest in fighting him were because of him name dropping to gain popularity or if he just thinks that he wanted the fight and lost his nerve at the last moment when it came to singing. Either way, Golovkin sees Eubank Jr. as a clown.

Eubank Jr’s promoter Eddie Hearn says he’s still interested in matching him against Golovkin after the Brook fight. Team Golovkin might be interested in the fight for December, because they don’t have an opponent pegged for that date. It’s unlikely that Golovkin will face Brook in a rematch unless he loses to him or if the fight is super competitive, both of which are highly doubtful.

“So Chris Sr needs to understand that, in order to make fights, you need to work together. If he can come together with Eddie then of course we can make that fight. It’s naturally next,” said Sanchez to skysports.com. “Either that, or James DeGale. We can go up in weight and challenge DeGale.”

Eubank Jr’s promoter Eddie Hearn said last week that the Eubanks are interested in defending the British middleweight title against Tommy Langford next. Hearn sees the fight as a very similar one to Eubank Jr’s last fight against Tom Doran. That fight was a terrible mismatch with Eubank Jr. toying with the domestic level fighter until stopping him in round four.

Golovkin would be better off looking to fight DeGale next rather than wasting more time and energy on a fight against Eubank Jr. There would be the potential where Golovkin’s team would be made to look bad when/if Eubank Jr. fails to take the fight for a second time. It would be to the point where it’s a joke by then. I think it would be better for Golovkin to head in another direction towards DeGale, because he’s someone that would likely readily sign for a fight against GGG without reservations. In the meantime, Eubank Jr. needs to show that he’s capable of taking real contenders, not domestic level fighters or bottom fringe contenders, and prove that he can beat them. Golovkin’s team should take a wait and see approach with Eubank Jr. If he starts facing high quality contenders and beating them like Tureano Johnson, Avtandil Khurtsidze, Curtis Stevens, Peter Quillin and David Lemieux, then they should look to fight him. Other than that, they should focus on guys like DeGale and Gilberto Ramirez.