Blackwell injury has made me mentally stronger

CHRIS EUBANK JR has his own feelings on what it is like when a fighter is left stricken.

Nick Blackwell’s career was ended when he was left with a bleed inside his skull after a brutal defeat by Eubank Jr in March 2016 before Blackwell, right, later returned to sparring and suffered a further brain injury.

But Eubank said: “That doesn’t affect me mentally. It makes me stronger mentally. It makes me understand that these things do happen, I have lived it now.

“It has put a fire up underneath me to make sure I prepare myself even more ferociously and fight more ferociously to make sure these things don’t happen to me because I’ve got so much more that I need to achieve in my career.”

His father has come in for criticism for using the Blackwell incident as an example as to why next week’s referee should “protect” George Groves in a series of posts on Twitter this week ahead of their World Boxing Super Series clash on Saturday week at Manchester Arena.

British Boxing Board of Control general secretary Robert Smith said: “It’s not very helpful.

“We will look at this in detail. But the bottom line is that we will have a world-class referee working this fight on the night and they will look after the safety of the fighters with great care as they always do.” Eubank Jr dismissed Groves’ claim that he has changed in the ring since his fight with Eduard Gutknecht as the super-middleweight star continued his war of words with the WBA champion. Gutknecht suffered a brain injury in his November 2016 fight with Groves. The German fighter collapsed in his dressing room after being outpointed in a brutal encounter and underwent emergency surgery that night. He spent five weeks in an induced coma and is now mute and in a wheelchair.

Groves insists he is now more wary of his opponent and wants the referee to step in when going for the finish.

“I don’t believe that’s true,” said Eubank Jr. “That’s not how he really

feels. He is saying that because he didn’t knock (Fedor) Chudinov out in his next fight and that’s his excuse – ‘Oh I didn’t want to keep hitting him’.

“He will do whatever he can, as any fighter would, to win.

“If by some miracle I was ever in that situation with George and he was teeing off on me the last thing on his mind is going to be, ‘Ref jump in and stop this’.

“George would go to town if he got the opportunity, which he will not.”