On tonight’s big card in Manchester, Chris Eubank Junior pounded out a ten round unanimous decision win over Marcus Morrison at middleweight. Eubank won by three identical scores of 98-92. Eubank is now 30-2(22). Morrison falls to 23-4(16).
It was a strange performance from 31 year old Eubank Jr. At times, when he turned it on, Eubank was explosive, fast and venomous with his punches. But then, inexplicably (aside from the fact that he simply wanted to get the ten rounds in, this Eubank’s first fight in a good number of months), Eubank would back off and do nothing. At times there was some exciting trading action, and Morrison, his nose dripping blood, did swing hard at times, only occasionally getting home with a shot.
Morrison was looking for counters, but when Eubank went to work in earnest Morrison looked like he might be overwhelmed and either taken out or stopped by the referee. Instead, the fight went all ten rounds. Eubank looked great in spots, ordinary in others. Eubank did say before tonight’s fight that he wanted to practice some of the things he had learned whilst being trained by the great Roy Jones. And post-fight, Eubank did say the fight was permitted to go all the way as he wanted to use some of the new moves Jones has taught him. It really did look as though Eubank could have got Morrison out of there at times, but perhaps this is to take something away from the toughness of Morrison.
Eubank won the rounds when he worked hard, yet he allowed Morrison to pick up his share of points when he lapsed into an inactive period. Again, an odd fight/performance from Eubank in many ways. Eubank says he wants a massive fight with Gennady Golovkin this year, but it will be up to the fans who saw tonight’s fight to decide on whether or not he is worthy of such a big opportunity. Eubank has also spoken of the possibility of a fight with WBA belt-holder Ryota Murata.
Jones gave his pupil an A+ for tonight’s performance. High praise indeed.
