By Jake Donovan

A press conference was held Thursday afternoon in London to further drum up interest for the massive November 29 show at the ExCel Arena. The show is topped by the heavyweight rematch between Tyson Fury and Dereck Chisora, but the purpose of Thursday’s press event was to formally announce the proposed middleweight scrap between Billy Joe Saunders and Chris Eubank Jr.

There was one major problem as Warren and Saunders saw it – the absence of Chris Eubank Jr., whom they revealed had yet to sign the contract. Saunders went so far as to claim, “He's got until 5pm tonight,” and even threatening to walk away from the sport if the fight doesn’t happen.

Warren co-signed on his fighter’s imposed deadline, anxious to finalize the fight or else proceed with other plans.

The major problem as Eubank Jr. saw – was the manner in which Saunders and Warren went about announcing a fight whose details are far from finalized.

“Frank Warren has tried to force me into signing a contract without my lawyers being able to look at it entirely (and) agree on it,” Eubank Jr. revealed through his verified Twitter account Thursday evening (local time). “He scheduled a press conference (before) the contract was even looked at properly to try (and) rush into signing (and) agreeing to terms we don’t want."

Eubank Jr. fought for the first time on a Queensberry Promotions show (Warren’s promotional company) this past July, scoring a 1st round knockout over Ivan Jukic. The show also featured Saunders, appearing as the makeshift headliner, as the date was originally reserved for the Fury-Chisora rematch, only to get postponed when Chisora suffered an injury.

Then middleweight’s placement on the show was respectable enough to earn a spot on Warren’s ‘The Magnificent Seven Ride Again’ bill on October 25 at Echo Arena in Liverpool. It would appear that a showdown with Saunders—which Warren is attempting to have sanctioned as a title eliminator—would trump such an appearance, although it remains to be seen if the second generation boxer will wind up on either show.

Whatever is decided, clearly it will be at his pace and on his terms.

“There's no deadline or rushing when it comes to my career,” insists Eubank Jr., whose father Chris Sr. was a former middleweight and super middleweight titlist, and one of the biggest boxing stars in the United Kingdom during the 1990s. “I'll sign once my management team has gone through (and okayed) the contract completely.”

Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of BoxingScene.com, as well as the Records Keeper for the Transnational Boxing Ratings Board and a member of Boxing Writers Association of America. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox