JOHN RYDER is gunning for a fight with Chris Eubank Jr. He hopes to secure the showdown on the same bill as George Groves when defends his WBA super-middleweight world championship against Callum Smith in the World Boxing Super Series final later this year.
Ryder is in a rich vein of form. At super-middleweight he got his career back on track with an impressive demolition of Patrick Nielsen and in May took out world title challenger Jamie Cox with a devastating knockout finish.
Eubank is one of the stars of British boxing but his muscular challenge was dismissed by Groves in their World Boxing Super Series semi-final in February. He needs to fight his way back to the top of the division.
“I think it [Ryder-Eubank] makes perfect sense,” Charlie Sims, Ryder’s manager, told Boxing News.
“They’re talking about Eubank Jr possibly fighting the winner of Groves-Smith. If Groves beats Smith, then you’d have to watch Groves vs Eubank again, which I’m sure would be fine, Eubank would put in a good effort. But there is something interesting about Eubank-Ryder. Eubank really is a middleweight who’s gone up to super-middleweight, I don’t think he really has any problems making middleweight. John Ryder has had issue making middleweight but he’s not really a [big] super-middleweight. I think that the size difference will be near enough the same and I think John’s really in good form at the moment and Eubank needs a really good win.
“I think it’s a really good fight and one that I’m sure a lot of people would want to watch. They’re both inside-sit-in-the-pocket kind of fighters. Eubank’s got a great engine and John loves that short to mid-range. I think it’ll be a really entertaining fight and whoever wins that would probably go on to challenge George Groves or whoever wins out of [Tyron] Zeuge and [Rocky] Fielding.
“We’ve got more than enough time [to make it]. But I don’t know what Eubank’s situation is right now.”
