By Charles Brun: BOXXER promoter Ben Shalom hopes to arrange a combat between Chris Eubank Jr. and IBF middleweight champion Gennadiy Golovkin in Might 2022.
Shalom has already begun talks with the workforce of the 39-year-old Golovkin (41-1-1, 36 KOs) for a combat with Eubank Jr. 31-2, 23 KOs) within the first quarter of subsequent 12 months.
Golovkin has a business-level combat in opposition to WBA middleweight champion Ryota Murata to get out of the way in which in December, and after that, he ought to be free to combat Eubank Jr. in 2o22.
Earlier than that combat occurs, Shalom is making an attempt to arrange a match between Eubank Jr. and former middleweight world title challenger Liam Williams for December.
Liam Williams coming off a loss to Andrade
Williams (23-3-1, 18 KOs) is ranked #6 WBA, #6 WBC, #7 WBO and coming off a aggressive however fairly one-sided 12 spherical unanimous choice defeat in opposition to WBO 160-lb champion Demetrius Andrade earlier this 12 months on April 17 in Hollywood, Florida.
The 29-year-old Williams’ current defeat in opposition to Andrade doesn’t precisely make him the perfect opponent for the 32-year-old Eubank Jr. to be combating proper now. Nonetheless, the competition would curiosity British boxing followers aware of Liam.
Eubank Jr. wants fights in opposition to world-class opposition, and Williams serves the aim on that entrance. After being out of the ring for all of 2020, Eubank Jr. got here again and has overwhelmed two second-tier fighters in Marcus Morrison and Wanik Awdijan.
The middleweight division is shockingly unhealthy proper now, and Williams, consider it or not, is taken into account one of many higher fighters within the weight class.
Eubank Jr. didn’t carry out properly in opposition to Morrison earlier this 12 months in Might, struggling at occasions to finest the heavy-handed fighter and looking out nowhere close to the fighter he was 5 years in the past.
It’s tough to overlook how Eubank Jr. has slowed down from the fighter he was earlier in his profession, however maybe his new coach Roy Jones Jr. can convey him slowly again to what he as soon as was.
Eubank Jr. concentrating on Saunders rematch
“We will likely be making a suggestion to Liam, so we’ll see if he desires it. Hopefully, we are able to get it on in December,” mentioned BOXXER promoter Ben Shalom to Sky Sports activities a couple of match between Eubank Jr. and former 160-lb world title challenger Liam Williams.
“There are big fights on the market for Eubank Jr, like Billy Joe Saunders and Demetrius Andrade,” mentioned Shalom. “He desires to avenge the Billy Joe defeat.”
It’s unclear whether or not a combat between Eubank Jr. and former two-division world champion Saunders may be negotiated. Eubank Jr. misplaced to Saunders by a 12 spherical break up choice in November 2014 in a combat that he would have received if he had fought exhausting within the first half of the competition.
It regarded like Eubank Jr. was making an attempt to mimic how his well-known dad Chris Eubank Sr. used to combat by doing numerous posing after throwing single photographs.
By the point Eubank Jr. stopped doing all ridiculous posing, he was up to now behind within the combat that he wanted a knockout to win.
The 32-year-old Billy Joe (30-1, 14 KOs) is coming off an eighth spherical stoppage loss to celebrity Canelo Alvarez on Might 8, a combat through which Saunders suffered a fractured proper orbital bone.
Saunders reportedly desires $5 million for the combat with Eubank Jr, making it tough to place this match collectively.
Eubank Jr. isn’t a world champion, and he hasn’t fought practically sufficient to maintain his reputation up over the past 5 years.
If Billy Joe chooses to dig in his heels and demand on getting 5 million, Eubank Jr. would possibly have to go in a special path.
Talks have begun for Golovkin combat
“Talks have began. Contact has been made with Golovkin’s workforce, and talks are progressing. They need the combat with Eubank Jr, and we’re taking a look at a Might date,” mentioned Shalom. “However the Golovkin combat is the large one for his legacy.
Golovkin will likely be turning 40 subsequent April, and he’s achieved little or no along with his profession within the final three years since dropping to Canelo by a 12 spherical majority choice of their rematch on September 15, 2018.
Since that defeat, Golovkin has fought solely 3 times, beating Steve Rolls, Sergiy Derevyanchenko, and Kamil Szeremeta. Rolls and Szeremeta had been mismatches that the boxing public had little or no curiosity in seeing.
The notion that many followers have about Golovkin is that he’s jaded and bitter over his loss to Canelo in 2018 and simply searching for both straightforward payday fights or hoping for the Mexican star to provide him a trilogy match.
No matter likelihood Golovkin had of getting a 3rd combat with Canelo, he’s thrown it out the door by going through weak opposition and combating sometimes. It’s disappointing how Golovkin has wasted the final three years of his profession by not typically combating and doing the minimal by going through poor opposition.
