Chris Eubank Jr avenged his loss to Liam Smith on Saturday night in Manchester but should a proposed matchup with Conor Benn be next?
Firstly, let me take you back to January 21st in Manchester. A bitter feud had been brewing between fellow Brits, Chris Eubank Jr and Liam Smith. Insults and wild claims had been thrown by each men, comments which they would later go on to apologise for. Needless to say, both men got caught up in the heat of the moment and a rivalry was born.
On this night, it was the Liverpudlian, Liam Smith who emerged victorious. Despite ‘giving away’ the first few rounds whilst he measured Eubank Jr up and found his range, Smith managed to do what nobody else had ever managed to do. He dropped and stopped Chris Eubank Jr.
Junior, who in the past, has shown a granite chin. A chin, reminiscent to that of his father’s, Chris Eubank Snr. In this bout however, he was severely hurt for the first time in his career. The awestruck Eubank Jr bravely climbed back to his feet. Another barrage of punches from Smith left the referee no choice but to stop the fight.
Chris Eubank Jr Gets His Revenge
Fast forward to last Saturday, 2nd September. Chris Eubank Jr has returned to the scene of the crime, the very arena where he was TKO’d. Across the ring stood Liam Smith. The very man that inflicted Junior’s first stoppage loss a mere seven months prior.
Before we get to what happened next, a severe amount of credit needs to be shown to Junior for his mental toughness and self-confidence. To immediately jump back in with the man that had just embarrassed you. In the same arena. In a largely Smith populated crowd, took some serious minerals. That should absolutely be commended.
Now lets talk about the fight. Which was a complete contrast from the first fight between the pair. First let me state, that Chris Eubank Jr was brilliant. He was punch perfect throughout. He maintained the distance, he controlled the pace and he stuck to his game-plan brilliantly. In my personal opinion, Liam Smith looked off. I have followed Liam Smith’s career from day one and he just did not look right in there. Liam is the kind of person who would rather take the risk of getting knocked out cold if he felt he was losing the fight convincingly. We didn’t see this at any stage of this fight. Now I concede, it might have purely been that Chris Eubank Jr was just too good. For my money, it was six and a half of one and a dozen of the other.
Was Liam Smith Compromised?
Liam was clearly compromised from an ankle injury sustained earlier in the fight and was heard in between rounds, telling his corner man Joe McNally that he had “rolled his ankle”. Liam has since spoken out and said that he had a back injury which led to the original postponement of the fight. Smith claims that this had let to him being unable to run properly during camp and had left him needing to cut a ridiculous 42lb’s before the weigh-in.
McNally claimed that Smith had chosen to go ahead with the big money fight and had felt that if he had delayed proceedings once more, then Eubank Jr would be gone, in pursuit of other fights, likely with Kell Brook or Conor Benn.
What’s Next for Chris Eubank Jr?
A trilogy fight with Liam Smith is highly unlikely to go ahead. Eubank Jr has fluctuated between 160lb and 168lb of late, in truth, as great as Eubank Jr looked against Smith, I would like to see him go back to 168lb. Junior, is dedicated to his craft and is never out of shape but truthfully, despite him being caught by a huge shot by Liam Smith in their first fight, it was evident that weight played it’s part.
Eubank Jr has been in with much bigger punches, such as George Groves and he never touched the canvas. That was against a renowned puncher in Groves at 168lb. He was knocked out by Liam Smith, who is a career 154lb fighter. This, in itself, speaks volumes and is the reason that I personally, would like to see him return to 168lb, his natural weight class.
That, however, is highly unlikely to happen. Junior, is highly ranked with the WBC and will now likely be highly ranked with the WBO. If we are looking at titles, Eubank is not too far off but the likelihood of these fights coming to fruition are slim to say the least. Jermall Charlo holds the WBC middleweight crown, despite not being active since way back in June 2021. For which, there is about as much chance of him being stripped by the WBC as there is of me becoming a world champion. The WBO middleweight champion is Janibek Alimkhanuly and I can’t see Eubank Jr entertaining that fight when other ‘money’ fights are on the horizon.
At super-middleweight, one man holds all the gold and with all due respect to Junior, Canelo Alvarez has much bigger names on his agenda.
So, where does that leave Chris Eubank Jr?
Chris Eubank Jr Vs ‘Special K’ or ‘GGG’?
This particular section of the article could well become an article in itself. Chris Eubank Jr has had his issues with former 147lb IBF champion Kell Brook in the past. Kell has teased his plans to come out of retirement and a big payday against Eubank Jr would certainly draw eyeballs. Do I want to see a retired 147lb former champion return to fight a prime 168lb Eubank Jr? Absolutely not. Does it sell? Is it a huge fight for the British public? Absolutely.
Eubank Jr could look for a huge fight against Gennady Golovkin but again, this isn’t the Golovkin of old. We are talking about a ‘GGG’ with more than one foot out of the door and there is something that doesn’t quite sit right about a prime fighter like Eubank Jr, claiming the scalp of a legend in Golovkin when a few years ago, he wouldn’t have been fit to lace Golovkin’s boots.
Which leaves one other option. An option that in all honesty, I’d rather not even discuss…
Chris Eubank Jr Vs Conor Benn
Now before I jump head-first into this, I’d like to state that I liked Conor Benn, I used to be a fan of Conor Benn. I was in awe of the dramatic improvements in Conor Benn’s performances, giving credit for what a committed and dedicated student of the game he was. That was, right up to October 5th 2022.
This was the day that the BBBofC (British Boxing Board of Control) released a statement declaring that Conor Benn had tested positive with VADA (Voluntary Anti-Doping Agency) for the banned substance, Clomifene. A total s**t-show followed, as promotors Eddie Hearn and Kalle Sauerland pushed for the fight to proceed. The BBBofC refused to sanction the bout. This led to it’s eventual and inevitable postponement.
Conor Benn and Eddie Hearn will insist and have insisted that Benn is innocent. That he has now been cleared. This is simply not true. Conor Benn does not hold a licence with the BBBofC. He will therefore not be sanctioned to fight under their authorisation in the UK. His suspension however, has been revoked. Something which the board are currently appealing and are aiming to get re-instated.
In the meantime, Conor and Eddie are telling anybody who will listen that Conor Benn is now allowed to fight. Albeit, under a different regulatory body that isn’t the BBBofC. This, is factually correct. So, if it is allowed, then why shouldn’t Conor Benn be allowed to fight Chris Eubank Jr?
There’s No Morality in Boxing
Conor Benn is legally allowed to request a license by another committee in the states or elsewhere. Chris Eubank Jr is legally allowed to do the same. If successful, they can get the fight on.
Which, is precisely why boxing is rotten. It is why it is broken. What we are talking about here is very simple. We have Conor Benn, a fighter who somehow managed to go from a life or death fight against a C-level fighter in Cedrick Peynaud. To then knocking out former world champion Chris Algieri in a relatively short period. And is now looking to drag a 168lb fighter down to 160lbs.
Eubank Jr just beat Liam Smith at 160lb. So why is it unfair for him to face Conor Benn at the same weight. Well, earlier in this very article I made a point about why Liam Smith was able to stop Chris Eubank Jr. My point was that the weight had taken away from Junior’s durability. So now, without any punishment or evidence of innocence, the plan is to put a failed drug cheat in against a man who you are depleting down from his natural weight class. It is dangerous. It is wrong. It’s also going to make a ton of money. It’s going to grab the interest of the British public.
It is… going to happen.
It is… boxing.
Featured image credits to Embed from Getty Images and Embed from Getty Images
