Eubank Jr. calls out Golovkin

BoxingNews24.com

By Jeff Aranow: IBO super middleweight champion Chris Eubank Jr. (24-1, 19 KOs) is interested in facing Gennady “GGG” Golovkin (37-0, 33 KOs) following his win over Daniel Jacobs last Saturday night. Eubank Jr. wants Golovkin to come over to the UK and face him in his home country Eubank Jr. said that he almost fell asleep in watching Golovkin’s close fight against Jacobs.

Golovkin won the fight by a 12 round unanimous decision, but the scores were very close at the end. The judges were giving Jacobs almost every round from the 10th through the 12th.

“Close Fight. GGG get your [expletive] over to England so we can give the fans a more exciting fight than that #NearlyFellAsleep,” said Eubank Jr. on his Twitter. “The ones who say ‘you can’t’ are the same ones scared that ‘you will’.” said Eubank Jr.

If Eubank Jr. is serious about wanting to fight Golovkin, he should vacate his IBO super middleweight title and move back down to middleweight to challenge him. Eubank Jr. had a chance to fight Jacobs himself in 2016 after he beat Gary “O’Sullivan. Eubank Jr. went in another direction in going after the British middleweight title in beating Nick Blackwell in March of last year. Eubank Jr. defended the British title once in beating Tom Doran. 2016 was largely wasted year for Eubank Jr., because he did every little. He could have fought for world titles against Jacobs or Golovkin, but he chose to fight Blackwell and Doran instead.

Golovkin may face a British fighter in his next fight in June, but it’s likely to be WBO middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders rather than the 27-year-old Eubank Jr. Golovkin wants to win the final middleweight title not in his possession. Saunders has that belt. Eubank Jr. holds the IBO title at 168, and Golovkin hasn’t expressed interest in winning all the titles at super middleweight.

Eubank Jr. had a chance to fight Golovkin last year in September, but he failed to sign the contract for the fight. Golovkin fought Kell Brook instead after the same deal was offered to him, and he quickly signed it. Golovkin has said that he would still be interested in facing Eubank Jr. Obviously that’s not going to happen in 2017 though, because Golovkin has potential fights against Billy Joe Saunders and Saul Canelo Alvarez that his promoter Tom Loeffler is trying to line up for him.

It’s unclear whether Eubank Jr. is going to stay at 168 to defend his IBO belt or go back down to 160. He’s said that he wants to face IBF super middleweight champion James DeGale in a unification fight. Eubank Jr’s IBO is probably not a strap that DeGale is interested in winning though. If DeGale faces Eubank Jr, it would be for his name rather than the title.