By Marcus Richardson: British promoter Frank Warren says he’d like to setup a comeback fight for former IBO super middleweight champion Chris Eubank Jr. and Tommy Langford and Mark Heffron. Warren figures that both of those guys would beat the 28-year-old Eubank Jr. (26-2, 20 KOs), who is coming off of a one-sided 12 round unanimous decision loss to WBA Super World super middleweight champion George Groves (28-3, 20 KOs) last Saturday night in the semifinals of the World Boxing Super Series tournament at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, England.
(Photo credit: World Boxing Super Series)
Eubank Jr. was trounced by the 29-year-old Groves in this one-sided fight. Groves gave Eubank Jr. a boxing lesson for the first 11 rounds before he injured his left shoulder in the 12th and was forced to hang on in the last 2 minutes of action to preserve the win.
“I got two fights or him that I’d like to make,” Warren said to BehindtheGloves about Chris Eubank Jr. ”I’d like for him to fight Tommy Langford and Mark Heffron. Those are good fights for him. I think both of those fighters beat him.”
I think it’s highly unlikely that Eubank Jr. will take Warren up on his offer of facing Langford and Heffron. Eubank Jr. would likely beat both of those guys handily, but he probably won’t take the matches because there would be no real upside if he fought them. If Eubank Jr. beats Langford (20-1, 6 KOs) or Heffron (18-0, 14 KOs) few boxing fans would give him much credit for the wins, as those a domestic level fighters. Langford is rated #12 with the World Boxing Organization, but he’s still largely viewed by as a domestic level guy.
Langford was stopped in the 5th round by Avtandil Khurtsidze last April. Since then, Langford has won his last 2 fights against Miguel Aguilar and Jack Arnfield. Heffron, 26, has recent wins over Lewis Taylor and Istvan Zeller.
Eubank Jr. hasn’t revealed his plans yet for his next fight. He mentioned wanting to move back down to 160 to go after some of the middleweights in that weight, but he also said he’d like to challenge for a world title against IBF super middleweight champion Caleb Truax. That’s a fight that isn’t likely going to happen soon. Truax and James DeGale will likely be facing each other in a rematch in the near future. If Eubank Jr. hangs around the 168 lb. weight class, he might have a chance to fight the winner of that contest. In the meantime, Eubank Jr. will have to get a confidence booster against someone in the 168 lb. division if he chooses to stay at this weight.
Eubank Jr. needs to get a good trainer that can teach him how to fight properly, as he was exposed by Groves as not having the boxing skills to compete at that level. Eubank Jr. hasn’t had the benefit of an amateur career the way a lot of fighters have. He’s largely been given tips by his father Chris Eubank, and he’s been learning slowly.
