Saunders, Eubank Trade Words at Press Conference

By Terence Dooley

Brighton’s Chris Eubank Junior produced the first shock of “Bad Blood” fight week by turning up at today’s press conference to promote this Saturdays domestic grudge match against Hatfield's Billy Joe Saunders.  Eubank had failed to show for previous press days, which led to a lot of speculation as to whether the fight was on or off, but he was in attendance today and full of fire going into the biggest fight of his career thus far.  The 25-year-old will challenge for the British, Commonwealth and European middleweight titles at London’s ExCel Arena; the winner is also guaranteed a shot at the WBO belt.

Eubank’s attendance has scotched online rumours that the fight had been called off.  A few whispers to that effect filtered through on Friday evening, but Andy Ayling, Frank Warren’s event manager, assured BoxingScene that they were unfounded and were to be discounted out of hand.

Eubank, though, refuses to be ignored, telling the assembled press that: “I didn't know who he (Saunders) was until I looked him up on YouTube—he has no chance.  I am willing to die in the ring to beat Saunders.”

It is a bold claim from the undefeated (18-0 with 13 stoppages) challenger, who has not done anything to warrant his multi-title shot; however, his father was in the same position going into his WBO middleweight title fight with Nigel Benn in November 1990 only to upset “The Dark Destroyer” courtesy of a ninth-round TKO.

Saunders, though, has made a few bold claims himself, not least his declaration that they should have a £100,000 charity bet on the outcome.  This angle has been tried before, and it always comes to nothing as BBBoC rules prohibit fighters from betting on their own fights.  Although the 25-year-old champion’s insistence that they do it for charity could be an attempt to find a way of circumventing this rule.

“I'm game for the £100k bet we spoke about, he needs to contact my lawyer,” reiterated Saunders, 20-0 (11).  “I know I will win this fight—this time next year I will be sat here with a WBO world title.  I’ll retire if I lose to him.”

Eubank dismissed this claim, telling the 2008 Olympian that: “I’ll put you behind me once I’ve beat you,” and adding the kind of barb that would make his illustrious father proud by telling BoxNation’s Steve Lillis that: “He punches to score points, I punch to break souls!”

Frank Warren, the show’s promoter, moved the attention on to the card itself, which also features the heavyweight rematch between Tyson Fury, 22-0 (16), and EBU boss Dereck Chisora, 20-4 (13)—the vacant British title is also on the line in a fight that doubles up as a world title eliminator.  “This is a fight card for the real fight fan,” said Warren.  “The best fight card we’ve seen for many years.”

Indeed, Warren had used his Twitter account to dismiss rumours of a withdrawal earlier today, telling his followers that it was: ‘[v]ery much on!’ before revealing that they had sold 20,000 tickets for the event.

The only downside to today’s meeting came right at the very end, with Eubank refusing the traditional head-to-head pose before leaving the stage.  Still, fight fans have seen thousands of head-to-nose confrontations, Eubank’s decision to walk away will prompt the sport’s armchair psychologists into a frenzy of speculation as to his mental state—generating even more debate about a fight that has captured the imagination of both hard-core and casual fans.

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