STAR POWER
Chris Eubank Jnr can’t be ignored as he blasts into World Boxing Super Series
AVNI YILDIRIM had promised Chris Eubank Jnr Hell in Stuttgart so it was appropriate that the visitor closed the show with a left hook which appeared to have been mustered somewhere in its fiery depths.
The Hove resident, the seeded fighter in this World Boxing Super Series quarter-final tie, was forced to travel to Stuttgart to face the Turkish firebrand in a city which houses millions of his countrymen.
The fight week was bad enough. Yildirim’s volatile manager/trainer Ahmet Oner clashed with one of Eubank’s entourage at the official press conference, infamously threatening to have his way with the man’s wife.
As a consequence, Eubank Senior decided to move the team from the official fight hotel to a different one, as the “hostile vibes” were beginning to worry him. His son, however, did not seem to care one bit. At Friday’s weighin, he laughed in the face of a ‘Welcome to Hell’ banner.
And he made a mockery of the prefight suggestions that he may be affected by the atmosphere, or that Yildirim was the dark horse in the super-middleweight section of the WBSS. “I walk into the ring and people in the crowd are booing, hissing and throwing stuff,” he said afterwards. “Then when I walk out and the same people want to take a picture with me. It doesn’t mean anything – boxing fans are boxing fans, if you perform and put on a great fight you can’t go wrong.”
Eubank did just that but, in truth, the putative home fighter was disappointing. Whether or not he froze on such a big stage was not addressed but Oner said afterwards that the 26-year-old had not stuck to
‘THE PEOPLE WHO BOOED ME WANTED A PHOTO WITH ME AFTERWARDS’
their game plan.
Instead, he moved forwards, deciding against throwing much or moving his head whatsoever. It was manna from heaven for Eubank who got busy with the jab before flooring Yildirim with one of his favourite right uppercuts midway through the first.
He only touched down momentarily but the shot was a taste of things to come for Yildirim. The second round was somewhat tighter as the Turk’s aggression was marginally more thoughtful but he was still not throwing with necessary volume.
By now Eubank was happy to open himself up in order to land on Yildirim and with a little over a minute left in the third, he pushed his back off the ropes and unloaded with a series of hooks, most of which missed or hit only glove.
But as he edged into centre ring, more and more of the shots were landing. Then, after ducking to evade Yildirim’s left hook, he came back with a right of his own which teed up the chilling, final left hook.
Yildirim had barely even touched the floor as Polish referee Leszek Jankowiak waved the fight off with Eubank standing over his stricken foe in his now trademark pose. A count was not considered, even though Yildirim was desperately attempting to somehow reach his feet.
It was the best performance of Eubank’s career and one of the most destructive overseas outings by a British boxer for some time but, afterwards, he was in no mood for hype.
“It was nice but it wasn’t the best,” he said. “I don’t believe I was in the ring long enough for it to have been my best performance.
“I like a fight where you get to really see both fighters box and go through it. That didn’t happen. Obviously I’m very happy with the performance but I wouldn’t say it’s one of my best.”
The initial shock of the finish throughout the crowd made way for pure admiration for Eubank who was warmly applauded when Jimmy Lennon Jnr officially announced the time of 1-58 of round three.
The atmosphere at that point was in stark contrast to an hour earlier when around 50 men engaged in a mass brawl just metres from ringside. It was unclear what initially sparked the trouble but what followed was a running battle involving a number of steel chairs.
Kalle Sauerland later explained: “It was a gang thing between Turks and Albanians. There may have been a motorbike connection but it was definitely two gangs.”
Once the trouble faded and a number of bloodied participants were ejected, the atmosphere inside the arena was a tense one. Eubank’s ring walk, therefore, was seen as another potential flashpoint and his dad suggested he might decide against wearing the Union Jack to the ring.
Said Senior: “I thought it may be incendiary and cause trouble because there were a lot of patriotic Turkish people here and there has been a lot of controversy stirred up in the days
‘I WASN’T IN THE RING LONG ENOUGH FOR IT TO BE MY BEST’
➤ preceding the fight.
“I gave him the choice: do you want to wear the fight hoody or the Union Jack? And, like a trooper, he used the Union Jack and I’m very proud of that.”
He would, too, have been proud of the performance which sent the prodigal son surging into the WBSS semi-final, where he will meet the winner of Saturday’s Wembley Arena contest between WBA champion George Groves and undefeated Jamie Cox. He wants a crack at Groves.
“I’ve done my job, now it’s his turn to do his,” Eubank said of the ‘Saint’. “I’ll be there watching closely on Saturday and may the best man win but Groves should get through it.”
On the undercard, Sauerland debutant
Zach Parker survived a few heavy left hooks from Frankfurt’s Matingu Kindele to claim a unanimous decision in his eight-round super-middleweight contest for which Joerg Milke was the ref. Holger Wiemann and Juergen Billhardt had it 80-72 while Alexander Plumanns scored it 79-73 for the Woodville man, who suffered a cut above the right eye.
WBSS super-middleweight reserve
Stefan Haertel, of Berlin, nicked a contentious majority decision after 10 hard rounds against tough Ukrainian
Viktor Polyakov. Plumanns had it 95-all while Milke and Billhardt had it 96-94 for Haertel. Wiemann was the ref.
No judges were required for 47-yearold cruiserweight Firat Arslan, who saw off Argentinean Alejandro Emilio Valori after 2-14 of round seven in their scheduled 10 rounder, during which Milke was in charge. Arslan still has designs on a third fight with Marco Huck, who has beaten him twice already.
Hatzenhuehl’s Leon Bauer
surrendered his perfect record as a result of a 57-57 draw with Atin Karabet of Essen. Billhardt reffed it while Milke, Plumanns and Wiemann all scored the six rounds level.
Timo Schwarzkopf got the nod from all three judges after eight hard super-lightweight rounds with Torino’s
Massimiliano Ballisai, where Plumanns was the referee. Earlier, in the card’s other eight-rounder, Cologne man Denis Radovan moved to 7-0 with a shut-out victory over Tiran Metz of Essen.
The three remaining six rounders all went the way of the house fighters.
First Hamburg heavyweight Albon Pervizaj cruised past Serbian Predrag Jevtic, with Milke in charge, before Berlin’s Burak Sahin beat Angola-born Andre Bunga.
The post-main event clash saw Munich super-middleweight Emre Cukur claim a unanimous decision over Gori’s Soso
Abuladze after six unremarkable rounds, for which Milke took charge.
THE VERDICT Chris Eubank Jnr’s statement win on foreign soil answered many questions.