CHRIS EUBANK JR is eager to rematch WBO world middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders should his mooted clash with Gennady Golovkin fall through.
Matchroom Boxing, with whom Eubank recently teamed up with, are currently ironing out a deal with Golovkin’s team over a meeting later this year.
Speaking to Boxing News when his new deal with Matchroom was announced a couple of months ago, Eubank made it clear that if he can’t secure a fight with ‘GGG’, he wants the man who outpointed him in 2014.
“Boxing, it’s a fickle sport. You don’t know the setbacks, there are complications, things happen so you can’t put all your eggs in one basket. But the goal is to fight Gennady at the end of the year,” he told us.
“If we don’t get Golovkin, there are options like [Danny] Jacobs, Saunders – and Saunders is the one I want, in all honesty. Saunders is the one that every day somebody says to me ‘you’ve got to knock this guy out’ so I’ve got to do it for Britain.”
At it stands negotiations for a Golovkin-Eubank Jr fight in the UK are in advanced stages and promoter Eddie Hearn remains very confident a deal will be finalised this week.
Saunders earned a split decision over Eubank Jr when they contested the British, Commonwealth and European middleweight titles, and then went on to lift the WBO crown.
Billy Joe is currently sidelined with a hand injury though is expected to return on the Liam Smith-Canelo Alvarez undercard on September 17, but the 26-year-old has laughed off Eubank’s previous claims that he is keen for a return.
@ChrisEubankJr you been offered 3 times ‘ and declined I’ll make sure you get 1mill if your serious
— billyjoesaunders (@bjsaunders_) June 25, 2016
Saunders is promoted by Frank Warren, meaning a rematch between the pair could be further away than ever. Eubank will now box on Sky Sports – and a fight with Golovkin would land on pay-per-view – while Saunders fights on Warren’s BoxNation channel.
Since losing to Saunders, Eubank has stopped Gary ‘Spike’ O’Sullivan and Nick Blackwell, both of whom Saunders beat on points. The 26-year-old Brightonian feels that is sufficient evidence to prove he world prosper in a rematch.
“Financially it makes sense for everybody. It can always be made, it’s just whether both sides can agree on the terms,” he said.
“If I was to fight and beat Gennady it would probably be easier to make the fight because I’d have all the power.
“I don’t know anybody who thinks Saunders would beat me again, apart from his hardcore group of fans. Everybody knows how much I’ve progressed, how much I’ve improved since our fight. I’ve stopped two fighters he went to points with. Everybody knows what’s coming, he knows what’s coming. The only reason he’s interested is because there’s a lot of money involved – if there wasn’t, he would never fight me.”
