Under the guidance and watchful eye of his world champion father Chris Senior, Eubank Jr was hailed as the next big thing in the middleweight division, but ultimately went down to a decision loss to Saunders in his bid to claim the European title.
Hearn, discussing the bout in his Daily Mail column this week, stated that Eubank and his team’s all round approach seems somewhat shambolic, plus Eubank had taken too long to get out of the traps in the contest.
“The (Saunders v Eubank Jr) fight was close and competitive but technically it was poor, with Saunders winning by a couple of rounds,” pointed out Hearn.
“When your dad is telling everyone that you’d beat Gennady Golovkin and that you’re the best since Sugar Ray Leonard, you are already in a no-win situation. Those claims have put Eubank Jr in an awkward position as, to be honest, he looked like a talented novice.
“In the ring it was a bit strange. When he really needed direction from his corner, there was none. I thought he could have been better served because clearly he is a talented fighter. If he started quicker and put more pressure on from the early rounds, I think he would have got the win.
“Billy Joe will now go on to fight for world honours, but you have to respect Eubank Jr – he took a huge risk for short money. Forgetting the noise around him, he is a talented fighter and I’m sure he will come again,” he added.
Eubank Jr has a lot of thinking to do before he makes his return after putting together a decidedly poor C.V in racking up an 18-0 record with 13 stoppages prior to the Saunders reverse.
In the end, the gulf from fighting the likes of Omar Siala and Ivan Jukic previously was too much to make up in facing the skilled Saunders – and the second generation fighter should now aim to come back at the top domestically before ultimately embarking on another move back up to European level.
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