DeGale closing in on Eubank Junior
JAMES DEGALE and Chris Eubank Junior are in advanced discussions over a mouth-watering clash in February.
Tentative talks over the super-middleweight contest began in the summer ahead of a proposed meeting later this year.
However, those talks rolled on, diaries were unable to be synchronised and the fight is now close to being confirmed for early in 2019.
The show will likely be broadcast on ITV as part of the three-year deal it has just signed with Haymon Sports and Premier Boxing Champions.
In July, DeGale relinquished the IBF world supermiddleweight belt he had won back from Caleb Truax three months earlier to start lining up moneyspinning fights such as the one with Eubank Junior.
But when it became clear the battle wasn’t going to happen until next year, DeGale kept himself busy with a tune-up fight against Fidel Monterrosa Munoz in Ontario, California, in September, stopping his opponent in round three.
Meanwhile, Eubank Junior, 29, lost to George Groves in the World Boxing Super Series in February but was then on standby to step in for the September final against Callum Smith if Groves couldn’t make it through injury. Groves damaged a shoulder late on his fight with Eubank Junior and underwent surgery, delaying the final.
That prompted WBSS promoters Sauerland to form a back-up plan in case he succumbed to the injury again late in his training camp.
Groves made the fight, however, and Eubank Junior ended up fighting — and beating — JJ McDonagh on the undercard. Confirming his decision to vacate his IBF belt in the summer, the twotime world champion DeGale, who turns 33 in February, said:
“My team have been working very hard and we’ve got some very big, exciting news to announce soon.
“No world champion easily gives up their title. I’ve proudly held the IBF title in two reigns with pride and distinction, which is why it makes it a very hard decision to relinquish the belt.
“I’m in the final phase of my career where I have a few good years left where I can be involved in massive fights and really leave a legacy in the division’s history.”