• Steve Bunce

Saunders fight a throwback to Benn-Eubank - in every way

Chris Eubank Jr's fight with Billy Joe Saunders recalls his father's famous 1990 bout with Nigel Benn © Getty Images

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There is not one sensible reason why Billy Joe Saunders, a veteran of eight title fights at just 25, is fighting Chris Eubank Jr, a veteran of 17 mismatches, at the ExCel in London on November 29. There are, however, a zillion reasons why boxing fans should rejoice at the European middleweight title fight between the two unbeaten boxers.

Billy Joe insists that it is happening because he dislikes Eubank, believes that he is all about hype and that he is disrespectful to all boxers. It was just under 25 years ago that boxers, promoters and the press said exactly the same thing about Chris Eubank Sr.

Buncey's Vaults

Carl Thompson beat Chris Eubank into retirement in Manchester © Getty Images

• It was to be Chris Eubank's last fight, his 52nd and he lost it. It was an immediate rematch with Carl Thompson for the WBO's cruiserweight title. "This time it will be different. Less suffering, less drama." That is what Eubank thought.
• Eubank spent "two nights in hospital to allow the doctors to assess his swollen eye" after the first fight, which Thompson won on points.
• I think I must have known that it was the end for Eubank and the preview reads that way. "There have been disturbing moments in his career, fights and rounds that will never be forgotten as Eubank has set the agenda for boxing history and passed from figure of hate to admired pugilist. Others could learn from him."
• Thompson was once again just too big and strong and the fight was stopped at the end of round nine. My preview had tried to put Eubank's career in perspective: "In 1990 Eubank emerged from behind his claims when he stopped Nigel Benn. It was the start of modern British boxing." He was a great man.
• As reported in The Daily Telegraph, July 17th, 1998

Chris Jr has claimed to have no idea who Billy Joe Saunders is, have no idea that he holds the British and European middleweight titles and he has so far swept aside any suggestions that after just 17 easy, easy fights he is not ready for Saunders. "The truth," the Eubank boy has said, "is that Billy Joe is not ready for me."

It is old-fashioned fighting talk and it has worked, but for the fight to happen there needed to be a strange decision in Puerto Rico. A few days ago it looked like Billy Joe would be fighting a Russian wunderkind called Matty Korobov for the WBO's vacant middleweight title, in what would have been a real test, a proper fight.

The Korobov-Saunders fight collapsed when the WBO decided to sanction their light-middleweight champion, Demetrius Andrade, against Korobov for the middleweight title; the rejection of Saunders, who remains the leading middleweight contender under the WBO's rules and regulations, led directly to Eubank's door.

It is hard for me not to see some glaring parallels with one of the greatest fights in British boxing history that took place on the outskirts of Birmingham in November 1990. In the ring was Nigel Benn, the WBO middleweight champion, and a fearsome puncher and fighter. Benn had real pedigree, a victim of hubris during his early career; he had salvaged his life by winning the world title in America in a brutal series of fights.

Chris Eubank Sr was in the other corner and was unbeaten in 24, just 24 years old and the truth is that there were many that feared he would get hurt. "He's not ready," most people said during the week that we (the old British boxing press) lived in Birmingham before the fight. However, Benn was dead at the weight, surrounded by chaos and in round nine of a brutal, unforgettable scrap he was rescued by Richard Steele, the Las Vegan referee. Benn had not considered Eubank a threat and that is a fact.

Billy Joe must start considering Eubank Jr, who turns 25 this week, a serious threat and he must stop talking about the hapless men that have jumped all over the canvas the moment that Eubank has hit them. The opponents have been imported for a reason from the shores of the Baltic Sea - they are here to pass a medical, get in the ring, get hit, get their senses scrambled and then fall down.

The recent Eubank fights have been about selling Eubank the character and not learning how to cope with going eight or 10 or 12 rounds. The sales pitch worked and he now has the Saunders fight.

Eubank has in many ways been protected from any criticism of his opponents quite brilliantly by his father, who is seldom out of earshot. The reality is that there is a missing 10-round fight on his record, a hard fight, and they are the type of rounds, in a proper fight, that no amount of genius sparring can replicate. Saunders has been the 12-round, full duration five times in his last seven fights.

It is a "wow" fight, make no mistake.

Billy Joe Saunders could have been fighting Matty Koborov for the vacant WBO middleweight title © Getty Images

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