Chris Eubank Jr. was apparently revolted by Jermell Charlo’s performance against Canelo Alvarez. (photo by Ryan Hafey)
Last Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Alvarez successfully defended his four 168-pound titles with a surprisingly breezy 12-round decision over Houston’s Charlo, the former 154-pound undisputed champion who was moving up two weight classes to take on one of the toughest competitors in boxing.
But even in a fight where Charlo was pinned as the clear underdog, many were still taken aback by his seemingly deferential effort. Charlo fought the majority of the fight cautiously, on the backfoot, and seldom offered legitimate resistance. Indeed, two of the judges gave Charlo no more than a couple of rounds, while one judge gave Charlo only the ninth round. Alvarez also forced Charlo to take a knee in the seventh round after he landed a hard overhand right to the head.
On social media, the brash Eubank wasted no time giving his opinion on the fight while offering up the services of a fighter who would actually seek to subdue Alvarez: Himself.
“Canelo needs to fight someone who’s going to get in there & put it on his ass,” Eubank wrote in a post on X. “Someone who actually wants to win not just survive, secure a payday & give him a sweet lil hug after. This sh** is getting embarrassing. I don’t want a hug… I want that scalp!! #CaneloEubank.”
Last month, Eubank staved off career suicide with a dominant 10th-round stoppage of Liam Smith in their middleweight rematch. In their first encounter, in January, Smith stopped Eubank in four rounds.
Ironically, Eubank previously mentioned that as much as he would welcome a fight with Alvarez he insisted he would not spend too much of his time trying to angle for one, given the leverage Alvarez has in picking his opponents.
Alvarez, moreover, is currently in the midst of a multi-fight deal with Al Haymon of Premier Boxing Champions, of which Charlo was the inaugural fight. Eubank is not aligned with PBC—he is signed to Wasserman Boxing—so it is unlikely he would be a candidate to face Alverez anytime soon.
There is talk that Eubank could face controversial welterweight Conor Benn in December. The two were supposed to fight last October, but the revelation of one of Benn’s two positive drug tests for a banned substance led to the cancellation of that event.
Sean Nam is the author of Murder on Federal Street: Tyrone Everett, the Black Mafia, and the Last Golden Age of Philadelphia Boxing.