Chris Eubank Jr.: James DeGale being seen as one of the best is embarrassing

As Chris Eubank Jr. moves up to the super middleweight division, with a stated goal of fighting at both 160 and 168lbs going forward, he says he’s eyeing future fights with James DeGale, Billy Joe Saunders, and Gennady Golovkin.

But speaking on James DeGale specifically, Eubank Jr. says his most recent performance against Badou Jack (which resulted in a majority draw) was so far from impressive that it’s actually distressing.

"DeGale is seen as one of the best, if not the best super-middleweight in the world, and I think that's embarrassing in my opinion,” Eubank said. "As everybody saw the other night, the guy is just easy to hit.

“He comes out after a 12-round fight and he's got no teeth – that's embarrassing in my opinion. You're a world champion and you have no defense.”

Then, turning his attention to the man he calls his nemesis, Billy Joe Saunders, Eubank Jr. says he believes it was his lack of experience in 12-round fights which caused him to pace himself too much, ultimately resulting in his only professional loss. Eubank Jr is so emphatic about this that he believes he’ll actually squash Saunders within four rounds in a rematch, saying it would be a “complete annihilation.”

As for Gennady Golovkin, Eubank Jr. insists that’s still a fight he’s very interested in. He says he sees weaknesses that he can exploit against Golovkin, yet when the two sides were actually negotiating that fight last year, Team Eubank appeared to balk at finalizing the deal.

For now Eubank Jr. has Renold Quinlan on schedule in an IBO title fight on Feb. 4th, after which he’ll try to get back to his hit list.