Saunders reacts to Eubank Jr. saying he’s the ‘A-side’

Image: Saunders reacts to Eubank Jr. saying he's the 'A-side'
By Boxing News - 09/06/2021 - Comments

By Jeff Aronow: Billy Joe Saunders was quick to shoot a response to Chris Eubank Jr. saying that he’s the “A-side” in an interview earlier today by saying that he’s never going to get a chance to avenge his loss to him from 2014 because he’s too busy fighting ‘Bin men.’

Eubank Jr. had said in an interview with TalkSport that Saunders (30-1, 14 KOs) quit in his last fight against Canelo last May and that he’s not in the position to be demanding $5 million for a fight against him.

As far as Eubank Jr. was concerned, Saunders has no credibility after quitting on his backside between rounds after getting a black eye in the 8th round against Canelo. Eubank Jr. doesn’t believe Saunders ever had an eye injury. That was just something he came up with.

Eubank Jr. not giving Saunders 5 million

The fact that the former two-division world champion is coming off a loss rather than a win undermines his opposition to be demanding 5 million.

Eubank Jr. believes that the way Saunders lost, quitting on his stool when the fight with Canelo was starting to get rough, puts him in a weak position to ask for anything other than what’s given to him.

Image: Saunders reacts to Eubank Jr. saying he's the 'A-side'

“He’s demanding £5million. He’s not in a position to demand anything,” said Eubank Jr. to Talksport. “Quitting vs. Canelo after saying he’d die before he took a knee. He’ll get what he’s given. I’m the A-side. Once he understands that, then we can talk.”

From the way Eubank Jr. and especially Saunders are talking, it doesn’t look like a fight between them is possible.

Saunders, 31, is asking for a gold mine after a bad defeat, and it’s doubtful that Matchroom Boxing or one of the other promoters or networks will be willing to pay both fighters the big money they want to make this fight happen.

Eddie Hearn said that Saunders’ request of five million wasn’t unreasonable given the amount of interest in the fight. But that’s Hearn talking, and I don’t know if he’d be willing to put his money where his mouth is.

Eubank Jr. (30-2, 22 KOs) fights against Sven Elbir (18-1, 14 KOs) next month on October 2nd at the Wembley Arena in London, England. The fight will be shown on Sky Sports.

Eubank Jr. is the WBA mandatory to Ryota Murata, and he would like to fight for a world title in late 2021.

Canelo on Eubank Jr’s target list

“He’s the only one I would move up a weight again to fight, and yeah, he is running out of guys to fight,” Eubank Jr said to Sky Sports about his desire to fight Canelo Alvarez.

“Nobody wants to fight him, and the guys that do want to fight him, [they] don’t actually want to fight him.

“That fight is definitely a fight that can happen, and I think next year, we’ll be pushing hard for that. It would fill the biggest stadium,” said Eubank Jr. about fighting Canelo.

One thing that could get in the way of Eubank Jr. fighting Canelo is the Mexican star is already scheduled to face IBF super middleweight champion Caleb Plant on November 6th.

The chances are low that Canelo would want to jump back in training camp to return one month later in December for a fight against Eubank Jr..