By Charles Brun: Chris Eubank Jr. insists that he’ll only go down two pounds from his regular 160-lb weight class to fight former IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook at a catchweight of 158 lbs, not the 155-lbs that he wants for a clash.
Eubank Jr (32-2, 23 KOs) maintains that the 35-year-old Brook is bigger than him, so he shouldn’t mind fighting at near the middleweight maximum, even though he was bludgeoned badly the last time he fought at 160 in a fifth-round knockout loss to Gennadiy Golovkin in 2016.
It’s arguably not worth it for Brook to risk further eye injury by fighting at the near middleweight limit of 158 lbs against the former IBO super-middleweight champion Eubank Jr.
The size difference between the two fighters is too significant for Brook to risk because he’s got other excellent options against fighters at or near the same weight.
As far as the 32-year-old Eubank Jr. is concerned, he’ll move on if Brook doesn’t agree to fight him at a catchweight of 158 lbs.
With Eubank’s #1 WBA and #3 WBC ranking at middleweight, he’s in a position to challenge world champions Gennadiy Golovkin or Jermall Charlo in 2023.
Obviously, with those two fighters in the pipeline to challenge undisputed super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez in big-money fights, they’re not going to agree to face Eubank Jr. in 2022.
So whoever Eubank Jr. fights this year, it’s safe to say that it WON’T be Golovkin or Charlo.
Brook (40-3, 28 KOs) is coming off a sixth-round knockout win over Amir Khan on February 19th. Kell is now hearing that Khan is interested in activating the rematch clause.
If he chooses to make that move, we could see a second fight between them. Brook would instead go in another direction to face Danny Garcia, Eubank Jr., or Keith Thurman. Garcia is interested in the battle with Brook, so he’s an option, but Keith hasn’t said anything about wanting to mix it up.
Thurman hopes to get a title shot against IBF/WBC welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr.
“The guy walks around at 180lbs,” said Chris Eubank Jr to TalkSport Boxing about Kell Brook.
“He walks around heavier than I do. He fought Gennady Golovkin at 160. He will be bigger than me on the night if we fight at 160,” Eubank Jr. continued.
“People are talking about me coming down to 155; that’s just not going to happen.
“155 is not happening, 158 at a push. If that can’t be agreed on, then we’ve got much bigger fish to fry, and it’s not the end of the world.”
“He would comfortably make 160. Could I shave off a couple of pounds if I had to? Yes, but one or two maximum,” said Eubank Jr.
Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn recently said that he would prefer that Eubank Jr. fight someone from his weight class at middleweight rather than looking to fight a smaller fighter from the welterweight division like Brook.
Eubank Jr. isn’t willing to budge in his decision to fight Brook at near the maximum limit for the weight class.
Oh well, it would have been an exciting fight, but it’s not worth it for Brook to fight at that weight against a full-fledged middleweight.
Eubank Jr. needs to fight some guys from his weight class because he’s done very little with his career since losing to George Groves in 2018.
Rather than sitting around waiting for a fight against Charlo or Golovkin in 2023, Eubank Jr. needs to fight one or two quality contenders at 160 to sharpen his game.
Good options for Eubank Jr
- Jaime Munguia
- Zhanibek Alimkhanuly
- Juan Macias Montiel
- Sergiy Derevyanchenko
- Demetrius Andrade
- David Benavidez
- Lerrone Richards
- Caleb Plant
- Tim Tszyu
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