Golovkin's Coach: Eubank Sr. Telling Lies, Must Come To His Senses

By Radio Rahim

A few days ago, Chris Eubank Sr., father and manager of Chris Eubank Jr. (23-1, 18KOs), lashed out at WBC/IBO/WBA/IBF middleweight king Gennady 'GGG' Golovkin (35-0, 32KOs).

Eubank Sr. was angered over the fallout in their fight negotiations. There were ongoing discussions for Golovkin and Eubank Jr. to face each other on September 10th at the O2 Arena in London.

The Eubanks were having trouble reaching an agreement with their own promoter, Eddie Hearn. Tired of waiting, Golovkin agreed to face IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook (36-0, 25KOs), who is moving up by thirteen pounds for the contest.

Eubank Jr. is now set to make a mandatory defense of the British title against Tommy Langford (17-0, 6KOs) on October 22nd.

The way the negotiations played out have not discouraged Eubank Sr. from unloading a verbal barrage on Golovkin for selecting Brook as his next opponent.

“We think he's running scared. This is Gennedy Golovkin,” Eubank Sr. said to The Express. “We think he's running scared because I don't know how he can choose a fighter who is two weights beneath himself. It's something out of a comic book, it really is. They can't be serious.

“They call him the best fighter in the world. Junior is British champion, yet they've gone for a guy who is 13 pounds lighter. It's not fair because my view is why would you do that if you want to respect other people? It's not just about defending your championship, you want to earn respect of the boxing fraternity and the public at large. You can hardly do that by fighting people who are not in your weight class.

“He certainly has lost respect in the boxing fraternity. In the fraternity no one respects that, but they will go along with it. It is what it is. It's been agreed. The people will accept what's given to them. But within the boxing fraternity it isn't seen as a match that is fair. I've heard it said from boxing aficionados that it's tantamount to cradle snatching. He’s fighting someone who is like a toddler - that's how it's seen in the boxing world.”

Abel Sanchez, who trains Golovkin, was well aware of Eubank's recent comments. He feels the former fighter is venting a lot of his personal issues - from his past career - in the present scenario with his son's professional run.

"I think that Chris' father has got a lot of issues regarding his career.  He's trying to enforce those issues with boxing today. Chris Eubank Sr. has to realize that he's retired. It's Chris Eubank Jr. that's fighting now. In fact there was an article that I read the other day, with Chris Eubank Sr., saying that the embarrassment of Golovkin, that we backed out of the fight - he's telling lies," Sanchez told BoxingScene.com.

"First of all, we agreed to everything that Eddie had [presented] - it was that Eddie pulled him out.  Eddie just went with somebody else. It was his promoter, not us. Hopefully if Eubank Sr. comes to his senses, that fight can be made before the end of the year."