Chris Eubank Jr’s promoter, Ben Shalom, has revealed what went wrong for his fighter not getting the lucrative, life-changing fight against superstar Canelo Alvarez on September 14th.
Shalom says the management for unified super middleweight champion Canelo (61-2-2, 39 KOs) couldn’t come up with a figure that Eubank Jr. (33-3, 24 KOs) could agree on for their fight, which he feels would be a massive one.
Eubank Jr.’s Limited Marketability in the US
It’s unclear what kind of money Eubank Jr. is hoping to get fighting Canelo because he’s not a household name in the States, and the fight wouldn’t do big numbers on PPV from the U.S. side.
For the Canelo-Eubank Jr fight to succeed on PPV, the British public would have to purchase it in huge numbers, and it’s questionable whether that would be the case. Eubank Jr. is viewed as a domestic-level fighter, even in the eyes of UK fans. He’s not taking on the top dogs at 160 or 168.
Eubank Jr. has been operating at the British and European level since losing to WBA super middleweight champion George Groves in 2018. That was the only time in Eubank Jr’s 13-year career that he fought for a world title, which ended badly for him.
Canelo is negotiating with his WBA mandatory Edgar Berlanga for a fight on September 14th in a cross-promotional clash involving PBC and Matchroom Boxing. The fight will be shown on DAZN and Prime Video PPV from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
While that’s a terrible fight, it’s not as much of a trainwreck in the U.S. as a Canelo-Eubank Jr. fight would be.
Shalom still believes a fight between Eubank Jr. and Canelo will happen, but just right now. He might be right. Canelo is seemingly taking easier fights now against opposition that U.S fans have little interest in to keep himself at the top, and Eubank Jr. will work well to further that.
“Canelo’s promotional team couldn’t get to a number that Chris [Eubank Jr] felt was acceptable for a fight of that size,” said Shalom to talkSport on why the Canelo vs. Eubank Jr. fight won’t be happening on September 14th.
Eubank Jr. may continue to have problems in negotiations with Canelo. Nothing is going to change unless Eubank Jr. shows some bravery and takes on a decent super middleweight like Diego Pacheco, Caleb Plant, or Christian Mbilli and beats them. It’s safe to say that Eubank Jr. would be a huge underdog against all of those fighters and would be trounced.
Shalom Optimistic Canelo-Eubank Jr. Happens
“And I do believe that fight is going to happen, but it’s not going to happen in September,” Shalom continued about the Canelo-Eubank Jr. clash. “At the moment, I think Chris feels that it’s a huge fight, and it is a huge fight, so the terms need to be right.”
I hate to break this to Shalom, but Canelo vs. Eubank Jr. is not likely to happen unless Chris Jr. agrees to whatever Alvarez’s management wants. Eubank Jr. could strengthen his negotiating power if he beats one of the big dogs at 168, but that isn’t going to happen in this lifetime.
We’ll likely see Eubank Jr. pick out another lesser guy like the ones he’s been fighting and be in no better position to get his asking price in talks with Canelo.
Eubank Jr’s last six fights:
– Liam Smith x 2: Knocked out in the first match and avenged it in the rematch
– Liam Williams: Domestic level
– Wanik Awdijan
– Marcus Morrison
– Matt Korobov: Free arm injury by Korobov
