As we are approaching Chris Eubank Jr’s fight with James DeGale next week at the O2 Arena, we need to ask ourselves: Will Eubank Jr finally perform on a high-level?
Rocket Start
Since the beginning of his professional career, Chris Eubank Sr’s son has been dubbed as one of the biggest prospects in British boxing.
More than 18 wins in the space of three years led the public to believe that Brighton-born fighter will follow the footsteps of his father.
Saunders Loss
After facing beatable opponents for the first part of his career, Chris Eubank Jr was due to fight fellow undefeated Brit and accomplished amateur Billy Joe Saunders.
The fight was a co-main event for the rematch between heavyweight giants Tyson Fury and Dereck Chisora.
Both Eubank and Saunders came to the fight confident that they can win it and go on to challenge for world titles.
On the 29th of November in 2014 Hertfordshire-born Saunders managed to win a close fight on a split decision against Eubank. Saunders’ boxing skills and movement turned out to be too much for Jr that night.
Many people started asking question after the fight about Eubank’s ability to listen and stick to the game plan. A notable moment after six round, Ronnie Davies in his corner told him that he was losing fight and has to start throwing punches but the fighter kept fighting recklessly and missing Saunders regularly.
For Billy Joe this led to one more fight and after that a chance to win the WBO Middleweight Title against Andy Lee in Manchester.
Back On Track
Following his loss to Saunders, Eubank came back to fight Russian undefeated fighter at the time Dmitrii Chudinov.
Considering his last fight, this was surprisingly difficult opponent for him which was the interim WBA title holder at the time.
In 2015 at the O2 Arena, the British fighter managed to stop Chudinov in the 12th round after an action-packed fight to claim the interim WBA middleweight belt.
Following the Chudinov bout, Eubank built up a momentum with notable wins over Nick Blackwell and Gary O’Sullivan.
Time For A World Title
In the beginning of 2017, Eubank’s team managed to secure a world title fight for him against Australian Renold Quinlan.
For the Brighton fighter this was an opportunity to finally shine on a big stage against an opponent that was tough and durable but beatable as well.
Chris Eubank Jr won that fight by a TKO and decided to enter the exciting WBSS tournament.
The 29-year-old faced two more opponents in 2017 in the likes of former world champion Arthur Abraham and undefeated Turk Avni Yildirim.
In many experts’ opinion, his fight with Yildirim which was in front of a very hostile crowd in Germany is his best performance to date.
Groves Challenge
As soon as the World Boxing Super Series were announced and we found out there would be a super-middleweight division, there was one fight that the public demanded: Groves vs Eubank.
After Eubank’s win over Yildirim and Groves’ win over Jamie Cox at Wembley Arena, the fight between them was official.
The build-up to the fight was a constant back and forth between the fighters, with Eubank saying that, “he will retire Groves” and Groves claiming to expose him.
In late February 2017, in front of a packed Manchester Arena, Chris Eubank Jr and George Groves faced each other the WBA Super and IBO Super-Middleweight Titles in a fight which raised WBSS Series’ stock through the roof.
A fight which saw Groves establishing his best weapon- his jab and Eubank’s best skills- his will to continue after an awful cut in the beginning of the fight and his speed which forced George Groves to make sure that his movement was perfect during the whole fight.
Despite Eubank’s athleticism and his chance to win due to Groves dislocating his shoulder, the Hammersmith-born fighter outboxed him easily and brought back the same questions: Will Eubank Jr listen and get a coach?
Bouncing Back
After his loss, many critics including Prince Naseem called for Eubank to “finish”.
For him what followed was a seven month period in which he spent a long time in Las Vegas where he trained.
In September he was scheduled to fight on the Groves-Smith undercard in Saudi Arabia against JJ McDonagh which he managed to win after the Irish fighter quit after four rounds.
Last Chance
According to boxing writers Mike Coppinger and Dan Rafael this is Chris Eubank Jr’s last chance to strive for greatness will be against rival and fellow Brit James DeGale.
The fight is scheduled for the 23th of February at the O2 Arena and it is set to be for the IBO Middleweight Title, belt which was in Eubank’s possession over a year ago.
Considered a 50/50 fight because of Eubank’s questioning performances in big fights and DeGale’s disappointing fight against Caleb Truax, it is safe to say that this is make or break time for the Brighton-based fighter.
A win would bring him back in the mix, which includes WBA champion Callum Smith and IBF champion Caleb Plant.
The biggest difference coming into the fight would the fact the Eubank has a coach now which he says “he listens to”.
Whether he will listen to Nate Vasquez or not, he is going to have to perform in a way which he hasn’t before if he wants to beat someone like DeGale who is a former world champion and an Olympic gold medallist.
