Negotiations for Chris Eubank Jr to fight Mexican superstar Canelo Alvarez in September have fallen through, but he explains why that fight can still be made for May of next year, plus he reveals that a shared trainer would not prevent him fighting pound-for-pound great Terence Crawford
Wednesday 14 August 2024 06:15, UK
Chris Eubank Jr is predicting that he will have more than one “mega-fight” in the course of the next 12 months.
Negotiations with Mexican superstar Canelo Alvarez did not come to fruition for a fight in September but Eubank believes it could still happen in May of 2025.
"Not [in] a bit of a rush, not off of a year layoff, not when the numbers he's offering are not right because he thinks everyone can jump to his beat," Eubank Jr told Sky Sports.
"The fight makes a lot more sense next year."
Canelo will box Edgar Berlanga instead, but Eubank expects that only to increase the appetite to see him box Alvarez himself.
"Berlanga's unproven. He hasn't fought anybody really. He's strong and whatever but it doesn't mean anything. He was talking about IQ. 'I have a better IQ than these guys that you fought.' No, he doesn't. He genuinely does not. I don't think he's got a chance in this fight and a lot of people think that way," the Briton said.
"A lot of people are not happy with this fight that he's chosen. There's only a certain pool of fighters that Canelo can now fight, which is why I'm not worried about this fight falling through in September. Because who else can he fight? There's only a few guys."
Even though he and Terence Crawford use the same trainer, Brian "BoMac" MacIntyre, Eubank won't rule out a potential clash with the pound-for-pound great.
"That fight can definitely still happen, he's kind of moving up through the weight divisions right now. He fought at 154lbs in his last fight, he'd probably be looking to get to 160lbs within the next six months, six to 12 months and then progress to 168lbs to fight Canelo that's what he's saying he wants to do," Eubank said.
"I'm at 160lbs," he added. " There's only a few marquee names in these divisions so exciting times ahead.
"We've got a trainer who's training both of us and if the fight does happen he's going to go with the guy he's come up with so he's going to be sharing the information.
"Which is not a great thing to think about. But I'm very confident. I think he's too small.
"So I think regardless of the information he'll get from camps with me and BoMac I don't think that will affect the outcome of the fight, I don't think he can beat me at that weight."
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