When Chris Eubank Jnr. claimed the IBO Super-middleweight title by overwhelming the underwhelming defending champion Renold Quinlan a couple of weekends ago, it was all pretty super familiar.
The next generation Eubank looked the part as he always has, save for the first half of his 2014 encounter with Billy Joe Saunders, showing flamboyance, movement, accuracy and incredible punch output but, more significantly, reiterated a seeming lack of world-class power.
Heaven knows, and boxing fans know, it’s time the incredibly vocal and boastful Chris Eubank Junior stepped up in class (okay, he did so in 2014, losing to WBO middleweight boss Billy Joe Saunders). Eubank Jr. claimed his “ticket” to the big, big fights this past Saturday, when he stopped Australia’s Renold Quinlan to take the lightly regarded IBO belt at super-middleweight.
Former British middleweight champ Chris Eubank Junior did as was widely, even universally expected last night, and defeated little-known Australian Renold Quinlan in London. In stopping the tougher than expected visitor, Eubank picked up the IBO super-middleweight strap. Now a “world” champion, the outspoken Brighton man wasted no time in calling out the big guns of the 160 and 168 divisions (he left out light-heavyweight ruler Andre Ward on this occasion of name calling).
Chris Eubank Jr. (24-1, 19 KOs) used his high volume punch attack to defeat IBO super middleweight champion Renold Quinlan (11-2, 7 KOs) by a 10th round mercy stoppage on Saturday night at the Olympia in London, England. Referee Howard John Foster wisely pulled the plug on the fight in round 10 after Eubank Jr. trapped Quinlan against the ropes and was hitting him nonstop with power shots.
Chris Eubank Junior, along with his ever-present father, has been very vocal in the lead-up to tomorrow’s fight that will see him attempt to take the IBO super-middleweight bauble from huge 25-1 outsider Renold Quinlan. But Eubank has been verbally attacking just about any fighter you could care to mention apart from Australia’s Quinlan.
The two Eubanks, Chris Junior and Senior, sure talk, and talk and talk – the latter especially. We’ve all heard and read both men claim how Junior, the former British middleweight champ, would “wreck” middleweight king Gennady Golovkin, and we’ve heard the Eubanks claim how a win over IBF super-middleweight ruler James DeGale would be nothing more than a formality.
There will be not one but two great fighters providing expert commentary on the upcoming February 4 IBO super-middleweight title fight between Chris Eubank Junior and Renold Quinlan. Heavyweight great Lennox Lewis will be calling the fight for British viewers on ITV (in the channel’s return to boxing, on pay-per-view), along with reigning light-heavyweight champ and pound-for-pounder Andre Ward.
Is 2017 the year when outspoken former British middleweight champ Chris Eubank Junior gets in with the elite fighters? Once again, the once-beaten contender is saying all the right things; stating how he wants to fight not only middleweight king Gennady Golovkin but also IBF super-middleweight ruler James DeGale and, in a rematch of his sole pro defeat, WBO middleweight champ Billy Joe Saunders.
It seems Chris Eubank Junior has moved on from calling out middleweight king Gennady Golovkin, to shouting and screaming about what he will do to reigning IBF super-middleweight boss James DeGale. Recently, just before DeGale went to war in last night’s excellent fight with Badou Jack – a performance which Eubank Jnr has yet to match at any time in his career – the two went back and forth on Twitter.
It seems the scheduled return to boxing for terrestrial channel ITV has been bugged by problems – what with fans balking at the idea of having to pay for the first planned ITV pay show, between Chris Eubank Jnr and the little-known Renold Quinlan in a fight that will contest the lightly regarded IBO super-middleweight title.
As critics have already pointed out, the show, scheduled for February 4, has no announced under-card and the main event does not seem worthy of carrying a payment fee (with rumours saying this fee could be as high as £20). But now, to make matters even worse, Quinlan says he may pull out of the fight due to what he says is a distinct lack of exposure and media attention.