Mickey Vann justifies saying Chris Eubank Jnr is more exciting than his father

IN this column last week I said that Chris Eubank Jnr was a more exciting fighter than his dad, the original Chris Eubank. Well, that proved to be a controversial thing to say.

A large percentage of the comments were letting me know that Eubank Jnr wasn’t as good as his old man, and didn’t have the power of his old man. I don’t know if he has the power, but that doesn’t make him a less exciting fighter – his dad would fight in spurts and go walkabout, Junior does less walking about and throw punches for longer periods. We are not sure whether he has a concussive punch but the power he does posess leaves you waiting for the Goodnight Vienna pill.

Isn’t it strange how most of the nation hated his dad and couldn’t wait for him to be beaten, and then, when he was, everyone was suddenly in his corner. Now Junior is working his way up the ladder and the majority are back disliking his dad for his antics in his sonโ€™s corner.

Every sport needs a personality: Alex Higgins put the spotlight on snooker; John McEnroe did it for tennis; Harvey Smith in show jumping and Freddie Truman in cricket, all of them unconventional, but all successful. All names and characters who fascinated the sporting world. Eubank Snr did it in boxing. And we may have another one of those types on our hands with Chris Eubank Jnr. The jury is not still out for me. Heโ€™s an exciting talent, and the kind of personality to seduce and repulse sporting fans in equal measure. And that’s the kind of fighter the sport needs.

I was impressed with Luke Campbell a really top shelf performance but Tommy Coyle will need a lot more luck than he had against Martin Gethin to beat Campbell. If as has been vaunted the pair meet in the summer, maybe Eddie Hearn shgould consider putting it on PPV, and should also be after the the 9 o’clock watershed, because children should not be allowed to witness the brutal punishment that Campbell is likely to hand out to Coyle.

I watched Zolani Tete versus Paul Butler and my first thought when I saw them was, โ€˜A good big โ€˜un will always be a good little โ€˜un.โ€™

Tete had a massive reach, height advantage and used it to the full. And, of course, to make matters even tougher, he is a southpaw. Butler needed to shorten the gap but when he did Tete tied him up, his long right lead was fast, his left hand loaded with class, and coming from South Africa you could guarantee he was tough as old boots.

Butler started to get some shots home in the fifth round but Tete got more home and they were harder, and by now Butler was five rounds down and struggling, even with the great Liverpool support behind him. Referee Phil Edwards warned Tete about his holding but this was a big mistake as Tete decided if he couldn’t hold him, he will have to knock him out instead, and he did just that.

Tete, if he keeps his feet on the ground, can rule that division for a long time. The only fault I see is his inability to work in close but I suppose with his height, reach, and speed, he figures he will just grab and hold but that won’t always work.

At the end of the Josh Wale versus Jazza Dickens – for the British super-bantamweight title – when I saw referee Howard Foster he looked like he had just finished a shift at the local abattoir. Whenever two British boys are fighting for the best looking belt in the world 99 per cent of the fighters give their all and if I had been good enough to fight for it I wouldn’t have cared about the title, winning that belt would be good enough.

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