By Charles Brun: Carl Froch wants to see middleweight contender Chris Eubank Jr. face Billy Joe Saunders or Liam Williams next following his fifth round knockout victory over his little-known replacement opponent Wanik Awdijan last Saturday night at the Utilita Arena in Newcastle.

Froch thinks that the recently beaten former 160-lb world title challenge Liam Williams (23-3-1, 18 KOs) or former two-division world champion Saunders (30-1, 14 KOs) would be ideal for Eubank Jr.

Unfortunately, Saunders, 32, is still recovering from an eye injury from his loss to Canelo Alvarez last May, and he’s not likely going to be available for a fight in December.

But even if Saunders did agree to take the fight with Eubank Jr, they would still need to meet his $5 million asking price to make that happen, and that’s probably out of the price range for Eubank Jr’s promoters.

The 32-year-old Eubank Jr. (31-2, 23 KOs) was talking of wanting to fight a big-name middleweight for his next fight in December, but that’s not going to happen.

As long as Eubank Jr. is willing to lower the bar substantially, he’s not going to be able to squeeze in a fight in December before the end of the year.

“The Liam Williams fight is a good fight, but he definitely, 100 percent needs to now get a move on,” Froch said to Sky Sports.

“We need to see him [Eubank Jr] in there with a big name, Maybe the Billy Joe Saunders rematch. I quite like that fight. The time is nigh; it really is.”

I think I speak for everyone when I say Liam Williams or Billy Joe Saunders would be TERRIBLE options for Eubank Jr’s next fight. How about Eubank Jr. fights a quality opponent instead?

Instead of aiming towards unrealistic fights, Froch should be looking at fighters that would likely agree to step in the ring with Eubank Jr. If Eubank Jr’s promoters offered the fight to these guys, they would readily agree as long as the price was right:

Sergey Derevyanchenko
Jaime Munguia
Gabe Rosado
David Benavidez
Juan Macias Montiel
Carlos Gongora
David Morrell Jr.
Jose Uzcategui

Any of those guys would be world’s better than Liam Williams or the over-the-hill Saunders at this point.

Williams was just beaten soundly by WBO middleweight champion Demetrius Andrade last April. As such, what’s the big idea Froch mentioning his name for Eubank Jr. Is the idea for Eubank Jr. to be pooling from the recently beaten ranks for his next fight? Is that what it is?

I got an idea. How about Eubank Jr. fight someone talented for a change because he’s been feasting on fodder since his loss to George Groves in 2018. I mean, is it too much to ask for Eubank Jr. to be matched against David Benavidez, David Morrell Jr, or Carlos Gongora?

“You’ve got Saunders running around. He says that he wants to fight me for £5m,” said Eubank Jr. “All I know is December onwards. Big names, world titles. It’s going to be a hell of a 12 months.”