Chris Eubank Jr. called out Gennadiy Golovkin last Saturday night, saying he’d like to fight him next after avenging his loss to Liam Smith by an emphatic 10th round technical knockout at the AO Arena in Manchester.
It’s a fight that could be very boring if Eubank Jr. chooses to clinch Golovkin all night to keep him from getting his punches off. It’s almost a given that Eubank Jr. would be holding Golovkin all night.
Eubank Jr. didn’t seem to have much confidence in his chin in the early rounds against Smith, and you can bet that he would be far less courageous against Golovkin.
“Listen, I want to fight GGG,” said Chris Eubank, calling out Golovkin following his win over Liam Smith. “I don’t know where he is right now, but wherever you are, Gennadiy, you’ve been holding on to them belts for too long. I want to take one. So let’s get in on if we can. 100%.”
It appears that Eubank Jr. hasn’t been keeping up with boxing because Golovkin is no longer a world champion at 160.
If Eubank Jr.’s management were able to line up a fight with the former unified middleweight champion Golovkin (42-2-1, 37 KOs), it would be a far more formidable opponent than the other two names that are being floated as potential opponents against retired former welterweight Kell Brook & the unproven Conor Benn.
Golovkin would likely be a heavy favorite despite his age, as he’s got far more experience in the pro & amateur ranks than Eubank Jr. (33-3, 24 KOs) and has the power to dominate.
Eubank Jr. will be turning 34 on September 18th, but he’s still considerably younger than the 41-year-old Golovkin, and he’s got the athletic ability to make it competitive.
Chris’ new trainer Brian ‘BoMac’ McIntyre, will devise a game plan to neutralize Golovkin’s power by using movement & clinching. We saw that in play in the early rounds last Saturday night, with Eubank Jr. preventing Smith from getting his offense in gear.
We’ll see if Eubank Jr. is serious about fighting Golovkin because this would be a monstrous step up in class from the lesser opposition that he’s been feasting on during his twelve-year career.
“It wasn’t good. It was a great performance against an opponent who’s shown how good he was last time out. He [Smith] was able to drop him & stop him last time out. He had to right the wrongs in a big way. He had to make a statement,” said David Haye to Boxxer about Chris Eubank Jr’s victory over a drained & old-looking Liam Smith.
“Just scraping by on a majority points decision win wouldn’t be enough. He really wanted to show the world that Chris Eubank Jr. is going to be winning world titles, and he’s back, and what happened last time out was just one of those things that happened. That’s me, and this is what I do, and everyone was like it was a complete shutout from the first round.
“I’d like for him to fight Conor Benn. Fights don’t get any bigger than that,” said Haye when asked who he wants Eubank Jr. to fight next. “That’s as boxing gets. In Britain, that’s it.
“The only other thing that could rival it would be Fury & Joshua. That’s the only fight that could possibly rival it, but that fight doesn’t seem like it’s getting made. How about Chris Eubank Jr. and Conor Benn?
“I think Conor is going to fight pretty soon because it’ll be a year since their first canceled fight happened. So after I see him in there with a middleweight because that’s where their fight is going to be at, middleweight, I’ll be able to judge it,” Haye said about Conor Benn.
“He has all of the tools. He’s physically amazing. He hasn’t boxed, obviously. He had an anomaly with the drug test. Hopefully, he’s past that and can get on with his career.
“These years for Conor Benn are very, very important, and the fewer he can have on the sidelines, the better he will be, the better he will develop, and the more he can make. I’m just hoping things can get straightened out and we can get these young lions in with each other,” said Haye about thee soon to bee 34-year-old Eubank Jr.. and 26-year-old Conor.
