BY GABRIEL PRINCEWILL
Chris Eubank Junior captured the WBA interim title by decisively stopping his opponent in an absorbing contest on the under card of the Tyson Fury contest at the 02 arena last Saturday.
The championship fight was an absorbing affair- both fighters engaging at close quarters for much of it. The third round in particular looked enthralling, with both men putting on a real show in the struggle for dominance. The son of the enigmatic Eubank senior, Chris Eubank jnr was the most dominant though, dominating most of the contest by throwing sustained combinations to the head and body of his game opponent. The former champion truly lacked an adequate level of know how to counteract the steam and tenacity of his industrious challenger who had marginally lost another title fight two months ago to Billy Joe Saunders at this same venue.
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The visiting champion was visibly hurt in the fifth round but was durable enough to keep his hopes of defending his title alive. However, those hopes were progressively dwindling away when in the fifth round his gum shield was violently smacked out of his mouth by the relentless attack of the Londoner, who remained purposeful in his assignment to dethrone the champion and replicate the achievement of his father in the 90’s. The final round proved decisive when a barrage of punches forces the referee to halt the fight- a stoppage that seemed to have come late in light of the beating the champion had already been subjected to prior to the stoppage.
After the fight, Eubank told the post fight press conference he was not going to take a chance and leave it to the judges. His father told journalists ” I am a proud father, this title was not given to him, he achieved it. I don’t think there has ever been a time in history where both a father and his son have won world titles in their day. When the newly crowned champion was asked by a sitting reporter if he feels any pressure to match the exploits of his father, Eubank senior intervened and insisted his son didn’t answer the question. ” I have to protect him, Eubank senior insisted. The question was a very good one but understandably Chris Eubank senior knows that every word that comes out of his son’s mouth may come back and haunt his son.
The fact of the matter is that the shoes of Eubank senior will be very difficult to wear, but his son truly scored a notable achievement that would have made any father proud, let alone a father who also held world titles at the same weight category. Frank Warren confirmed that a rematch against Billy Joe Saunders is very likely to happen. It should be a cracker when it does.
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