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.
The card set for London Olympia has attracted plenty of attention, not all of it good. The show will go out for the price of £12.95, a figure some say is too much for a card headlined by Eubank, a star in the making in the UK but not there yet, and a virtual unknown in Australia’s Quinlan. Still, the presence of Lewis and Ward adds both glamour and credibility to the show.
And Lewis, in speaking with ITV, says he is looking forward to the fight.
“This fight will be very interesting. Chris Eubank Junior is a lot like his dad, who I came up in boxing with,” Lennox said. “In fact, the first time I saw Chris was at their house where his dad was training him. The legacy has been handed down. I think the last name is something he’s trying to live up to, and maybe even do better than his dad, and that has motivated him into becoming the world class fighter that he is now. I’m looking forward to this fight. Eubank Jnr is a showman in the ring. He’s aggressive, throws high volumes of punches and is very elusive. He’s a great athlete.”
Such a glowing review from Lewis makes it sound as though Eubank Jnr is a complete fighter, a proven talent. But as we know, Eubank has yet to prove he is one of the best in the world. In his biggest fight to date, he lost to Billy Joe Saunders, and Eubank has not stepped in with an elite fighter since. Quinlan, with all due respect, is not an elite super-middleweight.
Still, we will see if the Eubank name will help make Eubank Jnr a big p-p-v star in Britain. Will Eubank-Quinlan do big pay-per-view numbers, or will the February 4 fight prove to be a Box Office flop, as the critics claim?
