By Tim Royner: Former IBO super middleweight champion Chris Eubank Jr. (27-2, 21 KOs) stopping injured JJ McDonagh (16-5, 8 KOs) in beating him by a 3rd round on Friday night at the King Abdullah Sports City, in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
McDonagh chose to retire on his stool following the third round, complaining of a shoulder injury. The timing of the stoppage was a disappointing one coming after an interesting third round. The time of the stoppage was 3:00 of round three. McDonagh was down in round one from a left to the head.
The win for the 29-year-old Eubank Jr. was a good bounce back victory for him following his 12 round unanimous decision loss to WBA Super World super middleweight champion George Groves earlier this year on February 17 in the semifinal of the World Boxing Super Series super middleweight tournament in Manchester, England.
“He says it’s his right shoulder. I’m not convinced but it is what it is,” Eubank Jr. said to ITV Box Office. “This was my opportunity to shake off some ring rust, it was good while it lasted but the going was too tough for him and he quit. I was starting to land at will. I caught him early and usually would have gone into destroy mode but I wanted the rounds and to display some of my boxing skills. I wanted to show I could box. I’m back to winning ways and now we want a big fight before the end of the year. James DeGale is a fight I’m trying to make happen and one I’m looking forward to.”
A fight between Eubank Jr. and James DeGale would be an interesting one depending on what condition Chunky’s shoulder is in for the fight. DeGale has looked incredibly bad in his last two fights against Caleb Truax.
Eubank Jr. looked bored in rounds one and two, showing very little energy or enthusiasm about the task in front of him. McDonagh was nowhere near the same class as Eubank Jr., and he clearly knew it and wasn’t interested in opening up on him initially.
In round three, Eubank Jr. began to land a lot of shots on McDonagh, showing that he wanted to put him away. McDonagh was more than willing to stand and trade with Eubank Jr. The high work rate from Eubank Jr. backed McDonagh off, as he couldn’t match the nonstop punches that were coming at him, and he didn’t possess the jab to force him to stay on the outside. Eubank Jr. landed some really nice shots that got McDonagh’s attention. McDonagh wasn’t able to fight off Eubank Jr.
After the fight, McDonagh revealed to the crowd that he had been fighting with a shoulder injury that he suffered. I don’t think the fans cared too much. It was a mismatch from the start. Eubank Jr. was going to knock McDonagh out sooner or later. Quitting with an injury saved McDonagh from the indignity of being knocked out in the clinical sense.
“I had a bad shoulder injury, I took the fight and he is a great fighter. If I was able to fight on then I would. I had no sparring,” McDonagh said. “I hurt my shoulder through the second, from then on he would have destroyed me, there’s no point taking a beating. Don’t get arrogant. Let’s have a straighter right now, I’ll fight you with one hand.”