AFTER dominating Arthur Abraham in Wembley last night, Chris Eubank Jnr will now enter the World Boxing Super Series and fight Avni Yildirim in the quarter-final.
Chris Eubank Snr attended the Super Series draft in Monaco and selected Yildirim for whoever prevailed at Wembley Arena last night.
Turkey’s Yildirim, unbeaten 16 (10 stoppages), remains respectful of Senior but insists the former two-weight world champion made a mistake by selecting him for his son.
“Chris Eubank, I respect. Before, he was a good fighter. His son I think is not a good boxer. I’m really, really ready for a great fight,” he said.
“Everybody thinks Chris Eubank wins but ‘Mr Robot’ – in September – will win.
“It is my time. This is Champions League, when the tournament finishes, I am [a] hero.”
A date and venue for the quarter-final are yet to be confirmed but they will clash as part of an eight-week stretch of Super Series fights across September and October.
Yildirim, 25, was a decent amateur and earned a place at the World championships in 2013 as a light-heavyweight, though lost his second fight there.
As a professional he’s boxed in various countries, from Turkey to Germany, America, Italy and Mexico. All but three of his opponents have had winning records and he has regularly had to fight people in their home country.
In his sixth fight he beat a faded version of former light-heavyweight world champion Glen Johnson but he also holds impressive stoppage wins over Janne Forsman and Schiller Hyppolite.
He began his pro career as a light-heavyweight but dropped down to super-middle last year. He last boxed in May when he dropped and outpointed Marco Antonio Periban in Mexico.
Yildirim has also made a name for himself while sparring top fighters, such as James DeGale, and giving them a run for their money. As such, he was viewed as one of the tournament’s dark horses but Eubank Senior remains unconcerned.
He said: “He has been tipped as dark horse, of course he is a dark horse but my son is a stallion. Dark horses don’t compete with stallions.”
The winner of Eubank Jnr-Yildirim will then get a world title shot, as they will fight the winner of WBA super-middleweight champion George Groves’ quarter-final against Jamie Cox.
