Chris Eubank Jr has a number of potential opponents he might face in the near future, according to co-head of Wasserman Boxing Kalle Sauerland. Following Eubank’s revenge victory over Liam Smith on September 2nd last year, the only opponent linked to the middleweight was fellow Brit Conor Benn, but several other fighters have now emerged to face Eubank Jr.
Most prominently, unified (WBO & IBF) middleweight champion Janibek Alimkhanuly (15-0, 10 KO’s) would present a significant but rewarding challenge for Chris Eubank Jr (33-3, 24 KO’s) who had shown interest in fighting the unbeaten Kazakhstani champion last year.
“Kell Brook is the one being discussed at the moment, [then] there’s Janibek [Alimkhanuly] for the world titles which is also in discussion,” Sauerland told Talksport. “So there’s a lot of different routes here.“
Kell Brook, who announced his retirement last year, appears to be once again eager to get back in the ring for what would be a massive fight in the United Kingdom. During an interview held last month in January, the former welterweight champion had expressed his fierce dislike of Eubank Jr, and had affirmed his intentions to potentially return to the ring for Eubank.
“I probably realistically would prefer to fight Chris Eubank [Jr],” Brook stated during his appearance on Simon Jordan’s Up Front With Simon Jordan podcast when asked on who he would come out of retirement for.
“I just don’t like him. He’s so arrogant and I’d get through a training camp a lot easier because I’d be fueled. I don’t think he’s arrogant―there’s something about him that just goes through me. Just the way he is, it just grinds at me so bad.“
Conor Benn (23-0, 14 KO’s) is also one of the opponents that Eubank Jr could face, which was a fight that had been planned nearly two years ago before Benn ended up failing his drug tests which cancelled the slated fight. Since the cancellation of the Eubank Jr-Benn fight in 2022, there had been multiple attempts to revive it, but according to Kalle Sauerland the unduly prolonging of negotiations prevented the bout from actually occurring.
“I think we were close last year,” Kalle Sauerland said.
“I just think it [the negotiations] dragged on too long, and in boxing sometimes things like that explode. It’s [the Eubank Jr-Benn fight] not being discussed at the moment, I think Conor Benn has a hearing this week, or the result of the hearing comes this week, but again, I’m not part of the Benn team―so I’m not privileged to that information, but that’s what I’ve been told, and what we can read in the media.“
Though a Benn fight seems to be heavily-dependent on the hearing with UKAD and the BBBofC―that Benn’s promoter Eddie Hearn revealed would commence this month, it is becoming resoundingly more likely that Kell Brook could be enticed to come out of retirement to face Chris Eubank Jr.
“I think the Kell Brook fight’s a fantastic fight for the UK,” Sauerland stated.
“But at the same time, internationally, he’s [Eubank Jr] is recognized by a lot of people as the #1 middleweight right now. so Janibek [Alimkhanuly] is an obvious fight. But at the same time, the dollars need to add up. It’s as simple as that.“
