By Jake Tiernan: British middleweight Chris Eubank Jr. has thrown his name into the mix of fighters who are hoping to get a chance to be the next opponent for Canelo Alvarez.
The 34-year-old Eubank Jr. isn’t a household name with casual boxing fans in the States, but he’s well known in the UK, where’s gained a reputation as a capable domestic-level fighter.
Canelo & his trainer/manager Eddy Reynoso, would have to want Eubank Jr. because PBC wouldn’t be interested in this mismatch. It would be a PPV disaster for Canelo to fight Eubank Jr. rather than one of the top guys at 168, like David Benavidez.
Although Eubank Jr. (33-3, 24 KOs) is already expected to fight welterweight Conor Benn on December 23rd, he’s called out undisputed super middleweight champion Canelo (60-2-2,39 KOs).
Eubank Jr. was unimpressed with the performance by Canelo’s U.S. opponent Jermell Charlo last Saturday night, who he feels was only looking for a payday. He thinks he could give Canelo a much better fighter, and he wants to add his scalp to his collection.
Last month, Eubank Jr. defeated one of Canelo’s former opponents,35-year-old Liam Smith, stopping him in the tenth round on September 2nd to avenge his defeat. Smith had knocked out Eubank Jr. in the fourth round last January in an upset.
Canelo needs to fight someone who’s going to get in there & put it on his ass. Someone who actually wants to win not just survive, secure a payday & give him a sweet lil hug after. This sh** is getting embarrassing. I don’t want a hug… I want that scalp!! #CaneloEubank
— Chris Eubank Jr (@ChrisEubankJr) October 1, 2023
Charlo wanted to survive
“It seemed like, at some point, Charlo was trying, but after he got hurt, it seemed like he just wanted to finish the fight on his feet,” said Jeff Mayweather on his Internet platform, talking about his thoughts on Jermell Charlo’s loss to Canelo Alvarez.
Charlo seemed to give up on the fight after he was knocked down in the seventh, but he was struggling before that, showing no interest in winning when he was shaken up in round two from a hard right hand by Canelo.
“Every round was pretty much the same. It seemed like once he felt the power [from Canelo], he didn’t want to take any risks, and he didn’t,” said Jeff. “When a guy makes up his mind to just survive, you can try anything you want, and it might not work,” said Jeff about Jermell just looking to survive and not win the fight.
“Canelo didn’t see the openings that he wanted, and he didn’t want to take any risks either because still, Charlo could fight too. He didn’t take the risks that we thought he should have.”
Canelo wasn’t throwing a lot of shots because he was looking for the perfect spot to throw his counters, and it also appeared that he was afraid to gas out. His stamina has always been bad, and it wasn’t improved by the training in high altitude in Lake Tahoe for this camp.
“It doesn’t change anything,” said Jeff about neither fighter losing or gaining from this fight. “Now, Charlo can go back to his weight class [154] and probably go and fight Crawford now because Canelo said he’s not fighting Crawford.
“Basically, Canelo can go fight Bivol, or whoever he wants to fight, and Charlo can fight Crawford.
“He [Jermell] kind of mentioned [at the post-fight press conference] that Canelo had a little bit more power than he thought, and, of course, if that’s what he thought, that’s why he didn’t try anything,” Jeff said.
The body shots that Canelo hit Jermell with took a lot out of him, and that made him reluctant to throw. His energy wasn’t there, and he didn’t want to put himself in a spot where he could get stopped by a shot to the breadbasket.
Jermell returning to 154
“Any trainer wants their fighters to win, but the thing is this. No fighter wants to lose by knockout. People turn, and that’s bad,” said Jeff about how fans have turned against Jermell’s trainer Derrick James after watching Errol Spence Jr. and now Charlo lose in one-sided fights, which showed that neither guy made any adjustments.
The fans noted how useless trainer Derrick James looked during the fight Canelo-Charlo fight last Saturday, as well as during Spence’s bout with Terence Crawford. Derrick hasn’t helped Anthony Joshua make noticeable improvements in his game, as he looks just as bad as he did before he started working with him.
“He [Derrick] had two undisputed champions, and he still has another champion,” said Jeff. “Now, all of a sudden, people don’t think a great trainer, but I still do. It takes a lot ofwork to take someone to win even one championship, let alone more than that.
“I don’t believe in blame. I believe in ‘We didn’t accomplish what we were supposed to do, us as a team.’ Not the fighter, not the trainer. Whatever happens in the ring is whatever is in that fighter’s mind and what he wants to project.
“He [Jermell] probably felt that if he had taken more risks, maybe he would have got stopped, and he was satisfied with not getting stopped.”
It’s pretty clear that if Jermell had opened up with his offense more, he would have given the counter-punching Mexican star Canelo countless opportunities to land his vicious shots, and he would have dropped him repeatedly.
The right hand that Canelo dropped Jermell with in the seventh round was a shot that was made available due to Charlo trying to be more aggressive. He knew he was hopelessly behind, so he tried to go on the attack, and Canelo made him pay.
“We’ll have to wait and see, and Bud is coming up in weight,” said Jeff. “We’ll have to wait and see,” said Jeff when asked if Jermell will go into survival mode against Terence Crawford if that fight happens next.
Crawford has already said that he’s not interested in fighting Jermell after watching his non-effort against Canelo. So unless he changes his mind, Jermell is going to have to fight someone else, perhaps Tim Tszyu, Brian Mendoza, or a rematch with Erickson Lubin.
“Canelo made it clear that he’s not fighting Bud. If he’s not fighting Bud, Bud wants to fight Charlo. So that fight should happen, no problem,” said Jeff.