CHRIS EUBANK JNR has confirmed he will fight Renold Quinlan at super-middleweight in early 2017 on an ITV pay-per-view broadcast.
The former British middleweight champion walked away from fights with Gennady Golovkin and Tommy Langford earlier in the year, the latter due to injury.
Despite insisting he wanted to fight Golovkin, and former conqueror/WBO middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders, the 27-year-old will instead move to 168lbs and fight the unheralded Quinlan.
In his last outing, Quinlan destroyed a badly faded Daniel Geale in Australia while Eubank last fought in June when he stopped Tom Doran inside four rounds. Quinlan has only fought 12 times since making his debut in 2008. His sole defeat came in 2014 when Jake Carr outpointed him over 10 rounds.
The move marks the first time ITV will broadcast a pay-per-view event, though details on pricing, the venue/date for the fight and how fans can pay to watch it are yet to be revealed. The undercard of the bout – which has also not been announced – is set to be aired on ITV4.
Eubank Jnr, son of Chris Eubank who also fought on ITV during his career, said: “We are the Next Generation and my team and I will now show fight fans the highest standard and quality of world championship boxing entertainment.
“I feel blessed to have this opportunity to work with ITV after they first showcased my father 26 years ago. And I intend to deliver more of what my father did: speed, power, accuracy, showmanship and the will to fight and beat the best of the best. Maybe even with a little bit more swagger!”
The event is being promoted by Richard Poxon’s Poxon Sports, meaning Eubank is seemingly not working with Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing – with whom he signed a short-term promotional agreement earlier this year – at the moment.
While ITV’s decision to commit to boxing is an encouraging one, making such a fight a pay-per-view event could backfire considering Quinlan’s anonymity and the fact British fight fans already have two pay-per-view shows – David Haye-Tony Bellew and Anthony Joshua-Wladimir Klitschko – scheduled in for the first half of 2017.
It is unclear at this stage whether Eubank’s move to super-middleweight will be a permanent one. If so, there are some intriguing fights available to him, especially on the domestic scene, against the likes of Martin Murray, Callum Smith, George Groves and James DeGale.
