In less than a month, Chris Eubank Jr will walk out to a hostile Welsh reception when he takes on middleweight rival Liam Williams in their long-awaited grudge match in Cardiff.
For Williams, it’s an opportunity to rectify the mistakes of his failed world title bid against unbeaten WBO champion Demetrius Andrade in April. For Eubank Jr, it could be the final hurdle to overcome before a world title shot of his own later this year - potentially against celebrated IBF middleweight champion, Gennady Golovkin.
Eubank Jr is already mandatory challenger for the WBA belt currently held by Ryota Murata, who himself was due to face Golovkin last month before their unification fight was postponed, while unbeaten WBC champion Jermall Charlo is another potential future opponent in the wide open middleweight division.
While Eubank Jr is keen to secure a world title shot against any of the current holders, he says it would be a “dream” to face Golovkin after years of chasing the Kazakhstani fighter.
Eubank Jr came close to securing a fight with Golovkin back in 2016 before negotiations broke down, purportedly because of a dispute over a photo in the office of Matchroom supremo Barry Hearn.
In 2020, promoter Eddie Hearn spoke about his efforts to negotiate the fight with Eubank Jr’s father, former two-weight world champion Chris Eubank Sr.
"I was trying to do a deal with Chris Eubank Jr. It was me, Chris Eubank Jr and Chris Eubank Sr negotiating a deal. We’d agreed all the terms of the deal," Hearn told BBC 5 Live.
"Then Chris Sr looked at me and said, 'Edward, there’s one more thing. In your father’s office is a picture of me punching Nigel Benn. It also has the official scorecards from the fight, you must remove the picture and give it to
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