Chris Eubank Jr.

Christopher Livingstone "Chris" Eubank Jr. (born 18 September 1989) is a British professional boxer. He held the WBA interim middleweight title in 2015, and the British middleweight title in 2016. As of January 2017, Eubank Jr. is ranked as the world's third best middleweight by BoxRec, and seventh by The Ring magazine and Transnational Boxing Rankings Board. BoxRec also ranks him as the best middleweight in the UK. He is the son of former two-weight division world boxing champion Chris Eubank.

Eubank was born in Hove, East Sussex, the son of Chris Eubank and Karron Suzanne Stephen Martin. He was a pupil at Brighton College. Eubank also featured alongside his father in the reality TV series At Home with the Eubanks.

At the age of 16, Eubank and his brother Sebastian moved to the United States to live with a guardian named Irene Hutton. It was explained by their mother Karron as "mere paperwork" and done to enable them to gain dual citizenship without the need to marry, and to enhance their prospects of sporting careers.

Eubank began his amateur career in 2007. With the winning of his sixth amateur fight, he became the Amateur Golden Glove Champion for the State of Nevada in his weight division of 165 lbs. With his eighth amateur fight he became the Amateur Golden Glove Champion for the Western States of the United States in his weight division. Eubank was 1–1 in the 2008 National Golden Gloves. He ended his amateur career with a record of 24-2.

Early career

After a successful amateur career which saw Eubank win the Nevada Golden Gloves, Eubank quickly turned professional in 2011 and signed with promoter Mick Hennessy. Mentored by trainer Ronnie Davies and his father. Over the next three years, Eubank amassed a record of 18-0 with 13 knockouts to his name.

Career from 2014–15

Eubank Jr. vs. Saunders

As a professional, Eubank lost his unbeaten record when he lost a close split decision to Billy Joe Saunders in London on Saturday 29 November 2014 at the ExCel arena. The bout went the distance, with Saunders controlling the first six rounds, as Eubank was mostly inactive, with many speculating to him being over cautious due to nervousness and 'stage fright' as it was his first major title bout of his professional career. Regardless, from round seven onward Eubank took control with a much higher punch output, this resulted in the two young boxers brawling and trading hard shots for the rest of the fight. In the twelfth round, Eubank came out gunning for the knockout but was unable to get it. The early inactivity turned out to be the deciding factor as Saunders was victorious, a 115-114, 115-113 and 113-116 winner.

Eubank Jr. vs. Chudinov

Eubank returned to the ring on Saturday 28 February at the O2 Arena in London. He scored a 12th-round TKO win over the undefeated middleweight contender Dmitry Chudinov and Eubank's efforts earned him the WBA interim middleweight title.

Signing with Matchroom

After a 2015 that was mostly inactive, Eubank signed to promoter Eddie Hearn under the Matchroom Sport banner. Hearn is the son of Eubank Sr.'s former promoter Barry Hearn. It was also announced that veteran trainer Adam Booth has been added to the team to co-train Eubank.

His first fight following his signing with Matchroom was a bout against American Tony Jeter, making his debut on Sky Sports. After knocking Jeter down in the first round, Eubank Jr. was able to knock him down twice in the second round before landing a flurry of combinations to Jeter, forcing the referee to stop the fight. Following the bout, Eubank Jr. was stripped of the interim WBA middleweight title due to his inactivity since winning it. Eubank Jr. then faced Gary "Spike" O'Sullivan in an eliminator to challenge the de jure WBA middleweight champion, Daniel Jacobs.

Eubank Jr. vs. O'Sullivan

Eubank Jr. fought Irish boxer Gary O'Sullivan on 12 December 2015 at the O2 Arena in London on the undercard of Joshua-Whyte. The fight was well anticipated, as the pair had a history of feuds in the past, with O'Sullivan targeting Eubank Jr. on social media. The fight throughout had the pace set by Eubank Jr, however O'Sullivan showed great resilience to Eubank's continuous hard shots, particularly uppercuts. At the end of the 7th round, O'Sullivan's corner retired their fighter, who had sustained a perforated eardrum.

British middleweight champion

Eubank Jr. vs. Blackwell

On 26 March 2016 at Wembley Arena, Eubank Jr. fought Nick Blackwell for the British middleweight championship. He dominated the fight to the point that his trainer, father Chris Eubank, began imploring the referee to stop the fight. Following the eighth round, the elder Eubank instructed Eubank Jr. to stop hitting Blackwell in the head. The referee finally called a stop to the fight at 2:21 in the 10th round, and awarded Eubank Jr. the win, and the title, by TKO. Blackwell was taken to hospital with bleeding on the brain, and was placed in a medically-induced coma for treatment.

Eubank Jr. vs. Doran

After re-signing with Matchroom Sport, it was announced on Sky Sports on 18 May 2016 that Eubank Jr. will fight on the undercard of Anthony Joshua's IBF heavyweight title fight with Dominic Breazeale at The O2 on 25 June. Tom Doran was announced as Eubank Jr's opponent on 19 May. Eubank Jr. had continued to climb up the ladder since joining Matchroom, having achieved a ranking of number two by the WBA and number three by the WBC. Eubank Jr. won via 4th-round TKO to retain the British Middleweight title. Doran was down once in the 3rd round and three times in the 4th as the referee waved off the fight. Eubank Jr. called out Gennady Golovkin in the post fight interview.

It was announced on August 12, Eubank Jr. would make a mandatory defence of his British middleweight title against fellow British and undefeated Commonwealth and WBO Inter-Continental middleweight champion Tommy Langford after promoter Frank Warren won a purse bid to stage the fight. Eubank, however, relinquished the title in September after suffering an injury in sparring.

Super-middleweight

Eubank Jr. vs. Quinlan

On December 13, 2016 Eubank Jr. announced via his Facebook page that he would be making his debut in the super-middleweight division on ITV Box Office. The last time ITV showed live boxing was in July 2015, when Carl Frampton defended his IBF world super-bantamweight title against Alejandro Gonzalez Jr. In the same post, Eubank stated he would be fighting 27 year old Australian boxer Renold Quinlan (11-1, 7 KOs) for his IBO super-middleweight title. Quinlan won the then vacant IBO title defeating former world champion Daniel Geale in October via knockout in round two. The date of the fight was confirmed to be February 4, 2017 with the venue being at the Lee Valley VeloPark, Olympic Park, in London

Following the announcement of the fight, Eubank hit back at fans on social media who claimed the IBO belt isn't a 'real world title', "That title has been held by some of the greatest champions in recent boxing history and it’s currently held by Gennady Golovkin, at middleweight. You can’t tell me anything, it’s a legitimate world title." He also stated his move to super-middleweight was not permanent. He saw an opportunity for fight for a world title and took it. If he can win the world title, then he will negotiate with other champions.

Despite not previously fought at super-middleweight, the December ranking update has Eubank at number seven, previously being number two at middleweight. On 6 January 2017, Quinlan threatened to walk away from the fight. The reason being there was little to no promotion, with the fight being only weeks away. he stated the build up has not been enough to promote the biggest fight of his career, "It’s only a few weeks away and I've got the feeling that it’s going to be delayed. There’s been no media around it and it’s not not getting the exposure it should be. I've been training well but I’m not 100 per cent focused now. I have a feeling it's going to get pulled."