By Sean Jones: Chris Eubank Jr. has Canelo Alvarez and Gennadiy Golovkin as the two fighters that he’s interested in facing soon. Eubank, 30, feels he’s ready to take on Canelo and GGG, and he can’t wait to get his chance to beat them.
Eubank Jr. (29-2, 22 KOs) has a new trainer in Roy Jones Jr., and he’s campaigning now as a middleweight against fighters more his size after spending the first nine years of his career at 168 fighting bigger opponents.
Eubank Jr. wants the exposure he’ll get in fighting Golovkin and Canelo. He needs those big names to take his career to the next level, as he’s been stuck in the same position in terms of popularity since his loss to George Groves in 2018.
The reason for that loss was Eubank Jr. was fighting a guy so much bigger and stronger than him in Groves, and he couldn’t overcome his size advantage.
Eubank Jr. has won his last three fights against JJ McDonagh, James DeGale, and Matt Korobov, but they didn’t do much for him. He needs to take the scalps of Canelo and Golovkin to further his career so he can take over for them.
Golovkin and Canelo on Eubank’s target list
“At 160, it’s Golovkin, Canelo, those are mega-fights,” said Eubank Jr. to Fighthub. “Those are the names that I actively want because they’re such huge names, such huge fights, and such huge exposure. So those two guys, I would love to fight them. That can be a real possibility over the next year, year, and a half. We’ll see what I come up with.
“Everybody ages,” said Eubank Jr. when asked if Golovkin looks like he’s aging. “But then you look at Manny Pacquiao with what he just did against Keith Thurman, and you think, maybe age doesn’t mean so much.
“It’s just how you live your life. I don’t know Golovkin, but I believe he lives the life. So I believe he’ll carry on and be effective for a couple of more years. He’s always going to be dangerous, but I believe he’s there to be taken. I would love that fight,” said Eubank Jr.
Golovkin and Canelo might look Eubank’s way if he can make himself relevant by beating two or three top-rated contenders at 160. Given that Golovkin is 38 now, and he doesn’t have a lot of time left in his career.
If Eubank is serious about wanting to fight Golovkin, he needs to get busy once boxing starts back up. What he should try and do is fight four times a year at the minimum because he’s going to have to if he wants to catch GGG before he retires. Eubank Jr. only has a short time to earn a fight with Golovkin. He’s not going to do that by fighting guys like JJ McDonagh or Korobov.
Eubank Jr. wants Golovkin fight
I was supposed to fight him a couple of years ago,” continued Eubank Jr on a fight with Golovkin. “The fight was this close to being made, but then Eddie Hearn gave the fight to Kell Brook. Kell Brook is a ‘yes man.’ I’m not a ‘yes man.’ But there were things in the contract.
“I’m not going to sell myself for a fight. So the teams were smoothing out the contracts, and we were this close. Then Kell Brook comes along, ‘Whatever you want, sir. Give me the fight.’ Eddie said, ‘This is the easier option, so I’m just going to give it to you.’
“It always gets me that I missed out on the opportunity, but GGG is still there. He’s still fighting. That fight can definitely still get made, and I would love the opportunity to share the ring with him,” said Eubank Jr. about his hopes for a clash about Golovkin.
That was a missed opportunity for Eubank Jr. to miss out on the Golovkin fight in September 2016. Kell Brook’s promoter Eddie Hearn panicked when the negotiations between Golovkin and Eubank Jr. stalled.
Rather than continuing to work on putting the fight together, Hearn offered the fight to Brook, who agreed to it. Brook got the match and suffered an eye injury in losing by a fifth-round knockout. Eubank Jr. could get a second chance against GGG is he’s smart.
