It has taken until the last week of November but we can safely say that the best domestic show of the year takes place on Saturday night, in London at the ExCel Arena in Dockland, London. The card, which is being billed as “Bad Blood”, features world ranked heavyweights Tyson Fury and Dereck Chisora in a rematch of their July 2011 clash, as the nominal main event. However, this fight has been usurped from its position by the real grudge match which is chief support, featuring undefeated middleweights Billy Joe Saunders and Chris Eubank Jr., which along with the FrochGroves epic from earlier in the year, is the most anticipated trade fight of the year.
The heavyweight rematch has been marinating for some time now, originally scheduled to headline Frank Warren’s 26 July show, before Chisora suffered a broken hand just days before the fight, forcing a postponement. This must have been heartbreaking for Tyson Fury as he had spent the best part of 2013 waiting on David Haye and his fragile body. Of course, that particular blockbuster never happened, Haye firstly suffering a cut eye in sparring just one week prior to the initial date and then undergoing shoulder surgery prior to the revised scheduled date, bringing that proposed match to a deadend.
Tyson, 220 (16), could not be blamed for becoming disillusioned and, indeed, he briefly announced that he had finished with the sport. Of course, that did not last long and he returned to the ring for a run out against Joey Abell in February of this year. His state of mind was indicated at the weighin for that fight, as he listed a careerhigh 274 lbs. Against the likes of Abell though, he knew he could get away with it; against Chisora he probably would not. Fury is no fool and realises that Chisora, 204 (13), carries a big threat to his lifelong ambition of becoming world heavyweight champion. Expect him to be in tip top shape on Saturday. Weight was one of the major factors in the first fight between these two, as Chisora came in at a career high 261 lbs, a bizarre move in one of his biggest fights. This was undoubtedly one of the factors which led to Fury scoring a relatively comfortable points decision on the night.
With a shot at world champion Wladimir Klitschko awaiting the winner, there can be no excuses for either man regarding fitness come fight night. Chisora has already had a shot at the big one, losing a onesided decision to Wlad’s big brother Vitali in February 2012, although performing creditably. This was one of a run of four defeats in five fights for Delboy, culminating in the devastating knockout defeat to David Haye in July 2012, which could have finished off lesser characters than Chisora. Instead, he decided that he would knuckle down, sort his weight out and train regularly in order to get in the best possible condition to have a final run at the sport. The death of his mentor Dean Powell seems to have further strengthened his resolve and given him something to fight for.
The British and European titles are both on the line on Saturday, but on this occasion the belts are particularly irrelevant. For Chisora, his career as a top line heavyweight could be on the line. Another loss could see him become something of a gatekeeper to the world top 10. He has to date gone into the ring with four world ranked heavyweights and on each occasion been defeated. This must be tempered by the fact that the loss to then highly regarded Finn Robert Helenius was one of the worst decisions in recent boxing history. Chisora was outstanding that night against another tall, big punching opponent. A similar performance will be required from him against Fury. The main concern for Fury entering this fight is his inactivity. Thanks to David Haye, he has only had two fights in almost two years. During that period Chisora has had five fights, including three scheduled 12 rounders.
During Fury’s career the doubts surrounding him mostly relate to his chin and his ability to take a punch. He has been on the floor several times, most recently to blown up cruiserweight Steve Cunningham, who put Tyson flat on his back with an overhand right, the punch that Fury has proved most susceptible to. Chisora is punching hard these days, with four stoppage wins in his last five fights. He is more of a clubbing hitter than a sharp puncher though. At the same time, it must be said that both Pala and Gerber, two mediocre recent opponents of Chisora, were both able to buzz him with punches, forcing him onto the back foot. There is also the knockout defeat to Haye of course. It must be said though that Haye is a devastating puncher and Fury is not in that particular league. I therefore see this being another gruelling distance fight, perhaps a little closer than the first fight between the two, but with the same victor. Fury on points.
The chief support is the fight that has created all the buzz around this promotion. Of course it features Billy Joe Saunders, 200 (11), former Beijing Olympian, defending his British, Commonwealth and European titles against hated rival Chris Eubank Jr., 180 (13). Taking this match could prove to be a disastrous career move for Saunders, who holds high rankings with all four alphabet groups. Not only is he putting his hardearned belts on the line then, but also an almost certain shot at one of the major titles at some point in 2015. Is he that certain of victory on Saturday, or has he just been coaxed into the fight by the sniping from the sidelines of Eubank and his esteemed father. It seemed quite obvious before the match was made that Frank Warren was trying to guide Billy Joe in another direction, but Billy Joe had set his mind to fighting Eubank Jr. and he has got his way.
It seems that the rivalry between these two started when Eubank Jr was quoted as making derogatory remarks about Saunders when the former was still at an early stage of his career. Saunders has never forgotten this and has made Eubank Jr. pay tenfold with the personal remarks and comments that he has been making throughout the year, but in particular since the match was made a few months ago. By doing so, Billy Joe has put himself under a lot of pressure to back up his boasts of what he will do to Eubank Jr. On the other hand, Jr.’s father has put his own son under a similar amount of pressure with his boastful comments, the latest of which is to state that his son would already beat world champion Gennady Golovkin. That is insulting to the super Kazakh. To use Gennady’s own vernacular, he will be hoping that Eubank proves to be “a good boy”, as he would welcome a fresh challenge, most of the contenders being unwilling to tangle with him.
Were Eubank Jr. to pull off the victory, it would see him snatch Saunders’s alphabet rankings and such a challenge as mooted above could indeed be on the horizon for him. It is a huge step up for Eubank Jr. though, as his quality of opposition to date is poor to say the least. In fact, all the odds would seem to stack up against Eubank Jr. It is Saunders who has the amateur pedigree, Saunders who has all the professional experience, not only of superior opposition but of having been the 12round distance on five occasions already, whereas Eubank Jr has never gone past eight.
Everything in this fight revolves around what we think Eubank Jr might be capable of, as he has shown little evidence of being a world class performer to date. When the match was first seriously mooted, back in the summer, the groundswell of opinion on social media was massively behind Saunders. However, over the past few weeks, for some reason, more and more people are swaying towards Eubank Jr. Indeed, the bookmakers have it almost a pick’em fight right now, with only a slight edge to Saunders. It is not clear why opinions are changing so dramatically, but my own has not changed and I am even stronger in my belief that Eubank Jr. will win.
I am of the belief that Billy Joe has reached his level. He is quite small for a middleweight and came close to being overpowered in his toughest fight to date last September, when he won a close decision over John Ryder. Billy Joe boxed very well that night, but seemed to run out of gas and the bigger, stronger Ryder was coming on strong at the end before running out of rounds. Billy Joe has only fought once since, in July, when winning the European title against Italian Emanuele Blandamura. Even in that fight there were signs that Billy Joe was starting to gas after opening up an early lead, and the Italian was starting to cause problems and win rounds. Billy Joe landed possibly the best punch of his career to date when a right hook finished the fight and solved any stamina problems he might be about to face. Eubank Jr is a very big middleweight and once again Saunders will be the smaller man on the night.
It is pointless looking over Eubank Jr’s career for pointers. Nothing he has done and no-one he has faced give us any pointers to Saturday’s fight. Are we all being taken in by a massive hoax, perpetrated mostly by that old devil Chris Sr? Is too much being read into the whispers of stunning sparring sessions against the great and the good of the British middle and supermiddleweight divisions? This writer simply has an instinct that Eubank Jr. is the real deal. There is something quite sinister and cruel in his steely eyes he looks as though he really enjoys hurting people. If Billy Joe wins the fight, many people will be left with egg on their faces, wondering how they could be so easily hoodwinked. Even so, I am going with Eubank Jr. to win a superb fight, which ebbs and flows one way and then the other, by a close points decision.
Backing up the two headline fights, there are two more intriguing British title fights, which could both quite easily headline their own cards on other nights. Frankie Gavin, 201 (13), defends his British welterweight belt and fights for the vacant Commonwealth title against his top contender, Bradley Skeete, 180 (7). Bear in mind it was only four months ago that Gavin lost his unbeaten record when challenging veteran Leonard Bundu for the European title, and Saturday’s fight represents another potential bananaskin. A further defeat would leave Frankie’s world title aspirations and, indeed, career in tatters. There may seem to be a wide gap in the respective rankings of these two fighters, but Skeete is on a roll, in good form, and anxious to retain his own undefeated record. Frankie has to be commended for taking such a potentially difficult match.
Gavin was boxing superbly against Bundu, thoroughly dominating the action, until a left hook to the body from the champion in the sixth round turned the whole fight on its head. From that point on, Frankie seemed to be hurt in almost every round by the stalking Italian, although Frankie rallied down the stretch taking the last two rounds, with the last being possibly his best round of the fight. I edged the fight to Gavin by one point, but could not argue with Bundu receiving the split decision. The rest is history, as Bundu now prepares to fight Keith Thurman in Las Vegas next month on Showtime TV and Gavin takes on Skeete. That defeat need not spell the end for Gavin’s high ambitions, but it does raise concerns that he was so badly hurt by a recognised nonpuncher in Bundu.
Skeete will pose his own problems for Gavin, which include the height and reach advantages he almost always has over his welterweight opponents. It is not just his physical stature that makes Bradley a difficult opponent though, he has an outstanding left jab and is starting to put opponents away after frustrating fans earlier in his career with his seeming inability to do so. The fighters that Skeete has been knocking over are of low quality however and it is unlikely that he will be able to do the same to Gavin. This looks like being a pure boxing match, with the height and reach of Skeete taking on the southpaw smarts, speed and skills of Gavin. Although Skeete was a good amateur, being ABA runnerup in 2009, it was Gavin who was world amateur champion in 2007. This difference in levels and experience should prove the decisive factor here. Gavin to take a clear points victory.
The fourth main fight on this magnificent card could end up topping the lot, with a crossroads battle taking place between Liam Walsh, 160 (11), and Gary Sykes, 273 (6), with Walsh’s Commonwealth and Sykes’s British titles on the line. This is another fight which has been brewing for some months now, with a top line spot at York Hall being on the agenda at one point. Due to cancellations the fight has ended up on this card, which is all the stronger for having it.
Walsh was always regarded as the best of the three brothers from Cromer and this assumption was supported as Liam streaked to the Commonwealth title in only his tenth fight. Liam also gained in notoriety as he appeared on the opening night of BoxNation, in one of the fights of 2011, when he eventually overwhelmed brave Scot Paul Appleby in the tenth round of an absolute war. Walsh had been on the brink of defeat in that fight but showed amazing heart to pull victory out of the fire. Despite this promising start to his career though, Liam seems to have come to a grinding halt. Okay, he has won a couple of minor WBO belts, but considering that Commonwealth title win was four years ago, the only progress he has made has been slow to say the least. He must be champing at the bit for this big fight on Saturday.
Liam is really up against it though, taking on mister perpetual motion himself, Gary Sykes. Of Gary’s three defeats, two have come in the Prizefighter competition (threerounders). How he must hate that format. The last defeat was to current British lightweight champion Terry Flanagan over the sprint distance, a fight many thought Gary edged. His only defeat over the championship distance was a close points loss to Gary Buckland back in September 2011, losing his British title. He regained the belt in his last fight, stopping Jon Kays in the tenth round. Saturday therefore sees his first defence in his second reign as champion. On the flip side, this is Walsh’s first crack at the British title, which is scandalous really considering his talent and apparent promotional backing. This cannot help but be a close fight which goes down to the wire and is definitely a potential fight of the year candidate.
When the fight was initially made, my thoughts were that Sykes would be a little too busy for Walsh. However, as the months have passed, I am now leaning towards the younger, fresher man to just have enough to drive through to the winning line, probably by split decision. Frank Warren ensured that the card would be a sellout by also featuring big ticket sellers, Mitchell Smith, Frank Buglioni and Georgie Kean in undercard fights. It has been another miserable year for Frank Warren, as his main rival, Eddie Hearn’s
Matchroom organisation continues to steal away his best fighters, the latest being outstanding Geordie prospect Bradley Saunders. Frank shows with this bill though that he is still a major force to be reckoned with in the sport. Save for any last minute injury pull-outs, which do seem to dog Warren’s shows, this simply cannot fail to provide a wonderful night’s entertainment for the discerning follower of the sport. The show features live on BoxNation in the UK, at its normal £12 monthly subscription charge.
@RachelAylett1
