Nick Blackwell defends his British middleweight title against Chris Eubank Jnr tonight at Wembley Arena, the fight can be seen live on Channel 5, from 9pm.
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Blackwell, 25, will be making the third defence of his British title that he secured via a 7th round stoppage over John Ryder at the O2 Arena in May 2015. The Trowbridge champion later defeated Damon Jones and also saw off the challenge of late replacement Jack Arnfield via unanimous decision in Bristol last November. But despite holding the title, he will start Saturday’s fight as the underdog as he bids to claim the Lonsdale belt outright in this his third defence against Eubank.
Eubanks Jnr, 26, will be looking to achieve what is father never did, to win a British title. His first shot at the belt ended in a split decision reverse to Billy Joe Saunders in November 2014. The loss didn’t do much harm to Eubank’s reputation and he came out of that fight with credit after a close fight with Saunders. Since then, he has had three good wins, culminating in the stoppage victory over Irishman Spike O’Sullivan in December.
The fight promises to be a close intense encounter and despite Blackwell being champion, he goes into this one as the underdog. Can the champion win the British belt outright and halt the rampant charge of Eubank junior and go on to bigger and better things? Or will Eubank’s power and speed be too much for the defending champion? Both are in confident mood! Here is what they have had to say about the fight and each other.
Blackwell: “He’s always trying to be someone he’s not. He could actually be a nice kid if he cut the apron strings and was himself a bit more. But he’s told what to say by his father and he’s always in performance mode. There’s nothing real about him.
He’s taking bad advice from people. They all think they’ve got the game sussed but the facts don’t back it up. He’s not popular, he can’t sell tickets and people only ever talk about him negatively. That’s okay if you’re going to be Floyd Mayweather, but he’s not.
Eubank Jnr: “It’s laughable for him to say I’ve been avoiding him,” said Eubank Jnr, 21-1 (16 KOs). “He’s a boring guy. He has to say something to try and get some attention. His stories about me avoiding him are fantasy. He wants to get under my skin by saying I’m scared and have been dodging him.
“The truth is, every single middleweight in Britain has at some point said on Twitter that they’d love to fight Chris Eubank Jnr They’ve said it to their friends and to their promoter. I get tweets from fighters all the time. I guess I’ve ducked every fighter in Britain then. It doesn’t make any sense.
Watch yesterday’s weigh in video above.
