By Jeff Aranow: IBO super middleweight champion Chris Eubank Jr. has called out WBC cruiserweight champion Tony Bellew for a catch-weight fight following some trash talking he did about him on Sky Sports. Bellew really went after Eubank Jr. in pointing out that he’ll get beaten once he faces someone with some boxing skills in his division. Bellew doesn’t think too much of Eubank Jr’s IBO title, which it appears he doesn’t respect a great deal.
Eubank Jr. recently won the IBO title off of champion Renold Quinlan on February 4 in stopping him in the 10th round. It was a good win for Eubank Jr. against a game but limited fighter. Eubank Jr. wants to use his IBO 168lb title as a springboard to fight the other world champions at super middleweight.
“He’s conned everyone to be honest with you with the last fight,” Bellew said about Eubank Jr. to skysports.com. “I have seen better belts sold in Matalan, if I’m being honest with you. Don’t pretend to be a world champion. It is nothing worth pretending to be. I think he is a good fighter. I think he’ll lose when it comes to a talented boxer as he has already has done when he came to Billy Joe Saunders. He was beaten by Billy Joe Saunders once and I believe he will be beaten once again.
Eubank Jr. has been busy trying to get fights against James DeGale and Gennady Golovkin lately in calling them out. It would be a big step if Eubank Jr. were to take on Bellew, who recently fought heavyweight David Haye earlier this month in stopping him in the 11th round on March 4 at the O2 Arena in London, England. Haye suffered an Achilles injury to his right ankle in round 6, and fought ineffectively from that point on with just one good leg working for him.
Bellew wore Haye down and got the stoppage in the 11th round. It was a great effort by both fighters. Haye did well fighting with one healthy leg, and Bellew did a good job of slowly breaking him down until stopping him in the 11th. Bellew didn’t get the credit from the boxing public that he would have if Haye hadn’t been injured. But that still won’t stop Bellew from possibly getting a big money fight in his next fight.
“Don’t get too brave mate. It took you 6 rounds to beat a man with 1 leg,” said Eubank Jr. on his Twitter about Bellew’s recent win over David Haye. “David’s injury made the fight even. Without that injury, you wouldn’t got banged. Rematch or come down to super middle and I’ll show you what boxing is about @tonyBellew. Me and you at a catch weight, then my pens ready @TonyBellew. You’re the same as DeGale & Saunders. Talking s*** about me then when I say let’s settle it in the ring, you [run] @TonyBellew,” said Eubank Jr.
With the scatter gun approach Eubank Jr. is using to call out the top fighters in boxing, he should be able to get one of them to eventually agree to fight him. If Eubank Jr. makes himself available to some of the contenders at 160, he could get some of them to fight him like Daniel Jacobs or David Lemieux.
Bellew is not likely to drop too much weight for a fight against Eubank Jr. right now, because he’s in the position to get a title shot against WBC champion Deontay Wilder or WBO belt holder Joseph Parker. There’s a rematch with Haye that is out there for Bellew. If Tyson Fury comes back in the next 6 months, then he’s a possibility as well for Bellew. In the meantime, Bellew has a hand injury that he’s taking care of. He suffered the injury early in the Haye fight. Bellew would need to likely drop down to at least 190 for the fight against Eubank Jr. to be possible. Given that Bellew’s weight for the Haye weight was at 213, it’s probably asking too much for him to get down to 190- to fight Eubank Jr.