Chris Eubank Jr. believes there is genuine public demand for a fight between him and the enfant terrible of boxing, Jake Paul.
Eubank, the longtime middleweight and super middleweight contender from England, challenged the YouTuber-turned cruiserweight boxer to a fight on social media after it was announced that Paul’s scheduled bout against Hasim Rahman Jr. in August was cancelled.
Eubank offered to fill in for Rahman, who failed to abide by the weight stipulations in the contract, on short notice in order to preserve the fight date. In the end, Showtime, which aimed to deliver Paul-Rahman as a pay-per-view, decided to scrap the entire card.
Eubank believes the popularity of his call out of Eubank is proof that a fight between him and “The Problem Child” would sell.
“Listen, he (Paul) put the tweet out saying that his fight with Rahman got cancelled—it got like 13-14,000 likes,’ Eubank said on The DAZN Boxing Show. “I tweeted, ‘yo, I’ll save your show. I’ll come over next week and we can do it. You can weigh in at whatever you want, I’ll come in at 160.’ That tweet got like 20,000 likes, even more than his original tweet.
“So, it’s the fight that people want to see.”
Eubank subsequently signed to face countryman Conor Benn in a 157-pound catchweight bout on Oct. 8 at The O2 Arena in London. The intriguing match-up is being billed as a generational grudge match, as both fighters are the sons of two of the most high-profile British boxers in recent memory, Chris Eubank Sr. and Nigel Benn, blood rivals during the early 1990s. In addition to the catchweight, Eubank must adhere to a strict rehydration limit.
While Eubank believes he has the upper hand in skill and experience, he noted that he would be giving away potentially more than 30 pounds in weight to Paul.
“My experience [is an advantage], yeah, but I’m giving away, what, 30 pounds in weight?” Eubank countered.
Eubank insisted that it is high time for Paul to fight a real boxer, given the outsize paydays he has been collecting.
"I don't care," Eubank said. "If you're getting paid that much, get in there with somebody who can fight."