PA Photo
By: Jonathan O’Sullivan
After nearly a year in the wilderness following his loss by split decision at the hands of Billy Joe Saunders at London’s Excel Arena, Chris Eubank, Jr., 26, is set to fight again on Saturday, October 24 at the Sheffield Arena.
His opponent is American Tony Jeter, 39, a boxer with an unexceptional record of 20-4-1, and three of his defeats were by knockout. With odds of 1/100 for Eubank Jr. and 16/1 for Jeter one might think that all Eubank Jr. has to do is to walk into that ring and Jeter will fall over! This does not seem to be a clash of the titans by any means.
And yet, Jeter says otherwise. He grew up watching Eubank Jr.’s father (now known as “English”) and his fights with Nigel Benn in the 1990’s, and while he says he “can see a lot of that in his son,” Chris Eubank Jr. is “not the dad.” He hasn’t been tested yet: we’ve not seen what Eubank Jr. has got when he is really challenged.
In an interview with SkySports, Eubank Jr. (accompanied with his father) looked obviously frustrated at his lack of boxing experience, saying, “Eight months is too long. I’m the type of fighter that needs to be fighting very regularly. In my first year as a pro I fought nine times and I’ve only fought once this year so I’m itching to get back into the ring.” As for the reason why it has taken so long for him to get back into the ring, he replied with just one word, “Politics.”
During that time Eubank Jr. recruited the former trainer of once heavyweight champion David Haye, Adam Booth. As for why Eubank Jr. replied, “New blood. We have a long history together. We’ve been training for a few weeks now and we’ve seen some good results.”
Adam Booth is also the trainer of Irish WBO middleweight world champion Andy Lee. When questioned about whether this would lead to a conflict of interest Eubank Jr. was clear. “I know [both players] current trajectory, and they don’t merge.”
If Eubank Jr. wins this match it is likely he will face Irishman Gary “Spike” O’Sullivan, who ironically has also been beaten by Saunders on a points decision, at the O2 Arena.
