Chris Eubank Jr. Believes He’ll Fight Gennady Golovkin In 2017
Gennady Golovkin‘s 2017 may look like it’s going to be booked full of big fights against Daniel Jacobs and possibly Canelo Alvarez, but Chris Eubank Jr. may be on GGG’s schedule as well, according to him.
In an interview with ESPN, Eubank Jr. reiterated his intent of fighting Golovkin at some point this year. Eubank Jr. said he believes the main reason for the GGG fight to not happen was because promoter Eddie Hearn instead successfully negotiated a fight between Golovkin and Kell Brook. Golovkin won that September 2016 encounter and has not fought since.
“I’ve been calling for it for the last two years. I’ve every bit of confidence that fight with Golovkin will happen in 2017,” Eubank Jr. said. “It’s not that I didn’t go through with it last year, I want the fight, but [promoter] Eddie Hearn gave the fight away to Kell Brook. Everything was being finalized and he [Hearn] saw an easier option. We’re not yes men, we don’t say yes to every clause. All the funny business that gets put into contracts, but we want a fair shake.”
A fight with Golovkin would most likely not happen within the first half of 2017, as Golovkin is fighting Daniel Jacobs for Golovkin’s unified middleweight world titles on March 18 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. There is also the matter of the potential megafight between Golovkin and Canelo, which is being looked at being made sometime in September.
Eubank Jr. is riding a five-fight win streak and his lone loss to his professional record came up against WBO Middleweight Champion Billy Joe Saunders. Eubank Jr. is facing Renold Quinlan for the IBO Super Middleweight Title on February 4.
