By Jeff Aranow: David Haye sees Chris Eubank Jr. as the only fighter that has the chance of beating IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin (36-0, 33 KOs) if the two of them ever meet each other during their careers. Eubank Jr. already passed on the option of fighting Golovkin last year, and I’m not sure whether he’ll get a second chance unless he can become a big star.
Right now, it would seem that Golovkin is cool to the idea of him facing Eubank Jr. Golovkin already is having a devil of a time just trying to get a fight against Mexican star Saul “Canelo” Alvarez. He doesn’t need a second headache of trying to get a fight against Eubank Jr., and having no luck.
Haye said this to Fighthype.com about his thoughts on Eubank Jr. possibly beating GGG:
“Eubank Jr. is one of the best British fighters that doesn’t currently have a world title,” said Haye. “For me, he’s a great fighter. He’s the only guy that can have a chance at beating Golovkin, Triple G. I believe he’s the only guy.”
Eubank Jr. has been facing such poor opposition during his pro career. It’s hard to know how he’d do against anyone good, especially someone talented like Triple G. I don’t see Eubank Jr. lasting long against Golovkin. I think Eubank Jr. is another Willie Monroe Jr. type of fighters, but maybe not even as good as that guy. If you fed Monroe Jr. the fodder that Eubank Jr. has been padding his record with his entire career, I think Monroe Jr. would be unbeaten rather than 23-1 like Eubank Jr.
The fact that Eubank Jr. couldn’t even beat Billy Joe Saunders is an indication of how limited he is. Since that loss, Eubank Jr. has beaten these guys: Tom Doran, Gary O’Sullivan, Nick Blackwell, Tony Jeter, and Dmitri Chudinov. What’s sad is that Eubank Jr. is going backwards rather than forwards by facing increasingly worse opposition with each fight. I know there’s a grand plan for Eubank Jr. to be facing the type of opposition he’s been facing, but it seems like he’s just focusing on padding his record with wins over fluff opponents instead of good opponents.
Eubank Jr. (23-1, 18 KOs) will be fighting on February 4 against International Boxing Organization super middleweight champion Renold Quinlan (11-1, 7 KOs) at the Olympia in London, England. That’s a fight that Eubank Jr. is expected to win. If he does win, Eubank Jr. will likely try and get a unification fight against IBF super middleweight champion James DeGale or the winner of the Callum Smith vs. Anthony Dirrell fight for the WBC super-middleweight title.
It would seem that Eubank Jr. has taken himself out of the equation for a fight against Golovkin by moving up in weight to the super middleweight division. Only Eubank Jr. and his father Chris Eubank know why they decided to go in weight to 168 rather than staying at 160 to try and get a fight against Golovkin.
Eubank Jr. would probably be better off if he stayed at 168 rather than coming back down to 160, and getting beaten by Golovkin. The money would be better for Eubank Jr. if he were to face Golovkin and Saul Canelo Alvarez rather than stay at 168. If the idea is to avoid losses, then Eubank Jr. is better off fighting at super middleweight rather than coming back down to middleweight and losing to Canelo and Golovkin.
Eubank Jr. has good boxing skills, but enough punching power to compete with Golovkin, Daniel Jacobs or Canelo from what I can see of him. Eubank Jr. might land some shots against those guys, but he wouldn’t win the fight. He would get taken out. It’s good that Haye believes in Eubank Jr., but it doesn’t mean anything.
Ishe Smith and Vanes Martirosyan to fight in WBC eliminator bout
The World Boxing Council has ordered a WBC 154lb final eliminator bout between 38-year-old former world champion Ishe Smith and Vanes Martirosyan. The winner of the fight will be the mandatory challenger to WBC junior middleweight champion Jermell Charlo. The winner will be the number two mandatory.
The WBC has given Smith and Martirosyan a deadline of February 20 to get the fight made. If it’s not done by that point, they’ll order a purse bid.
Martirosyan is rated #3 by the WBC despite the fact that he’s lost two out of his last three fights. Martirosyan has also lost three out of his last six fights. Based off Martirosyan’s lack of success in his last six fights, he doesn’t rate the No.3 ranking that he currently has with the WBC. He should probably be rated much lower with the sanctioning body. They’re giving Martirosyan a huge break by letting him have such a high ranking, and allowing him to fight in an eliminator. Martirosyan already beat Ishe Smith in 2015 in defeating him by a 10 round majority decision.
Martirosyan’s losses in the last four years have come against Erislandy Lara in 2016, Jermell Charlo in 2015 and Demetrius Andrade in 2013. His ownly wins during that time frame has come against Smith, Willie Nelson and Mario Alberto Lozano.
Former IBF junior middleweight champion Ishe Smith has lost three out of his last seven fights in the last four years. However, Smith has won his last two fights in beating Frank Galarza and Tommy Rainone. Smith’s losses have come against Martirosyan, Lara and Carlos Molina. The loss to Molina, a 12 round split decision in 2013, resulted in Smith losing his IBF 154b title.
