Eubank Jnr is all ready to clean up

CHRIS EUBANK Jnr’s scrap against Arthur Abraham at Wembley tonight has a new dimension over and above the defence of his lightly-regarded IBO crown.

The winner goes into the super middleweight quarter-finals of the new World Boxing Super Series that includes George Groves and Callum Smith.

So the IBO belt, always more bargaining chip than coveted bauble, has served its purpose, catapulting Eubank Jnr (above) into elite company, or to the manor born as he will tell you.

If ever a fight served a purpose for Eubank Jnr it is this. Abraham (below), at 37, 10 years Eubank’s senior, has been around a long time winning titles at middle and super-middleweight.

He’s strong with heavy hands, but what happens to sluggers like him who hang around too long is they lose speed and timing – which is essential to land the knockout. When you lose it, the power evaporates.

I don’t think Eubank Jnr is a genuine super middle. He should have stayed at middleweight but the big domestic interest, and thus the loot, is at 168lbs. He was fast and powerful at middleweight. He fights at good pace, he’s aggressive in a way his father wasn’t and has a great chin.

Abraham can win only by coming forward. Eubank Jnr is too fast, his movement too good and he will outbox him, looking good doing so.

Then the real business starts. In the super series draw in Monaco, Groves, as the top seed of eight in the competition, selected fellow Brit Jamie Cox in the first round in September.

Cox is tough and a big puncher but is essentially a middleweight coming up like Eubank Jnr. Groves knocks him out.

Assuming victory tonight, Eubank Jnr will have the same difficulty against genuinely bigger units. Groves walks around at 180lbs. On fight night he is pretty much back up to that weight. I’d be surprised if Eubank Jnr had to ship much weight to make the 168lbs limit.

I know he has sparred Groves and did okay, but this is a different sport with a full faceguard, which absorbs most of the punishment. But that’s for another day.

Tonight at Wembley Eubank and son will have the bunting out.