Chris Eubank Jr enters the next stage of his career with serious momentum following his revenge win over former world champion Liam Smith earlier this month.
He now wants to take another leap and fight one of the best boxers of his generation, Canelo Alvarez.
After silencing his critics with his dominant performance against Liam Smith, Eubank Jr is already looking at what’s next.
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Chris Eubank Jr says he would still be interested in a Conor Benn fight but it would have to happen on his terms.
For him, a fight with Alvarez makes sense.
“Canelo goes where the money is and I can’t think of any bigger money fights than me versus Canelo. I know he wants to fight in the UK. It’s a huge market,” Eubank Jr told Sky Sports.
“There’s not many guys there that people would like to see fight more than me and Canelo Alvarez.”
Calculated as ever, Eubank Jr is eyeing up the undisputed super-middleweight champion but, as lucrative as it would be, he recognises it’s a fight he can’t bank on landing.
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Chris Eubank Jr admits winning a world title is the ‘dream’ but insists he does not need a belt to make ‘huge fights’ following his win over Liam Smith.
“It’s hard to target him. You can’t target Canelo Alvarez, whenever he wants to come and fight, he’ll fight. He’ll look at the options and do what he wants,” he said.
Against almost all his other rivals, Eubank would consider himself the “A-side”. But not against Canelo.
“He does make the rules. He does what he wants. He moves up in weight. He comes down in weight. He holds belts in different divisions and he does all the things that other fighters could just never do,” the Brighton star said.
Alvarez has beaten a long line of British opponents, from Liam Smith and Amir Khan to Callum Smith and Billy Joe Saunders as well as John Ryder most recently.
But Eubank Jr insisted: “They call him the Brit slayer and people know I’m not going to go down without a fight I’m not going to get in there and freeze up.”
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Chris Eubank Jr reflects on his victory over Liam Smith at the AO Arena in Manchester, citing ‘family and legacy’ as his main drivers for his success.
It would require a move back up to 168lbs for that second world title attempt. But with newfound confidence, it’s an opportunity Eubank Jr would welcome.
“I’m going to go out there and take it to him,” he said. “That’s what people want to see and that’s the fights he needs to be in. Whether he’ll accept a fight like that is to be seen.”
There will be an array of other options for Eubank Jr, of course. Just as he’s called for a fight with Canelo, plenty of others will be clamouring to box him.
From having to fight to keep his career alive against Smith, Eubank Jr has flipped that narrative on its head. “I’m in the power position now. Everybody wants a piece now,” he said.
“It’s insane how fickle the sport is. But the truest quote of all when it comes to boxing is, you’re only good as your last fight. When I’d just lost, that’s what I was as good as. A loser. A guy who’s full of [rubbish]. Who talked a bunch but couldn’t back it up. Now I’ve backed it up.
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A ringside angle of Chris Eubank Jr’s spectacular 10th round stoppage of Liam Smith.
“It was like: ‘Eubank’s on his way out. He’s done, he’s finished. He’s about to get banged out by Smith again. We’re never going to hear from him again.’ And now I’m the No 1 guy.”
Revenge tasted sweet but it had been sour for Eubank Jr as he was forced to let the loss to Liam Smith marinate for months.
“That first fight just feels like a bad dream. It doesn’t feel like it happened or it matters anymore, which is great, because it was a dark time for me,” he said.
“It’s great to be out of that.”
Whether a trilogy fight is on the cards or not, Eubank Jr is very pleased with his work.
“I told Liam before this fight: this is all going to be a dream at the end of Saturday night. Now it is,” he said.