By Allan Fox: Eddie Hearn has made an offer to promoter Kalle Sauerland for his fighter Chris Eubank Jr to challenge WBO middleweight champion Demetrius Andrade for his title.
Matchroom Boxing promoter Hearn says Sauerland is “very interested” in the offer for Eubank Jr (30-2, 22 KOs) to take on the unbeaten Andrade (30-0, 18 KOs).
Eubank Jr recently beat the big-punching Marcus Morrison by a 10 round unanimous decision earlier this month on May 1st. At this point, Andrade vs. Eubank Jr is a 50-50 fight.
Andrade, 33, didn’t look that impressive in his recent 12 round unanimous decision victory over his WBO mandatory Liam Williams on April 17th.
It’s unclear whether Andrade has lost something from his game due to inactivity or from the series of fights against lesser opposition.
The last time that Andrade took on a tough fighter was back in 2017 when he defeated Jack Culcay by a 12 round split decision. Andrade has been trying to get a fight against Canelo Alvarez, but he’s made no progress on that front.
Hearn has an offer for Andrade vs. Eubank Jr
“I want to see Eubank Jr fight, Demetrius Andrade, that’s what I want,” said Eddie Hearn to iFL TV. “While we’re looking for that big fight for Demetrius, Eubank, a good name, a good fighter, a good test, a good profile.
“I think that fight [Andrade vs. Eubank Jr] does really, really well in the UK or Europe. I’ve reached out and made Kalle Sauerland an offer for that fight, and he’s very interested. So we’ll see where it goes,” said Hearn.
After looking at how Andrade struggled in the later rounds from the steady pressure that Liam Williams was putting on him, you’d have to give Eubank Jr a heck of a shot at beating him.
Eubank Jr, 31, has been calling out Gennadiy Golovkin, Canelo Alvarez, and Jermall Charlo recently with no luck. Those guys don’t seem to be excited at the prospects of facing the tough former IBO super middleweight champion.
Billy Joe Saunders vs. Eubank Jr also an option
Hearn says he’d also like to match Eubank Jr against the recently beaten Billy Joe Saunder, but he doesn’t seem as hopeful about that match.
The former two-division world champion Saunders is coming off eye surgery following his eighth-round stoppage loss to Canelo Alvarez on May 8th in their unification fight at 168.
It would obviously be a terrible idea to throw Saunders in the ring with Eubank Jr in his first fight back from surgery. Yeah, the match would interest boxing fans and make money, but Saunders might fall apart once Eubank Jr starts pressuring him hard.
Although Saunders beat Eubank Jr by a 12 round split decision in 2014, that was a fight in which he gassed out in the second half.
Over the years, Saunders’ stamina hasn’t gotten any better, as we witnessed in his loss to Canelo. He ran out of gas in that fight and gotten hurt in the eighth.