Callum Smith: When Chris Eubank Jr steps up he’s let down by his lack of boxing ability

Former super middleweight world champion Callum Smith thinks that Chris Eubank Jr could soon find himself back in world title contention by leveraging his last name, but thinks that he’ll come up short just the same whenever the opportunity presents itself. Specifically, Smith tells Sky Sports that he expects Eubank’s lack of boxing ability to rear its ugly head once again whenever Eubank takes on a top opponent.

“He carries his dad’s name so he has a big profile. He talks a good fight so will always talk himself into big fights. But as we’ve seen in the Billy Joe Saunders fight [when Eubank lost his unbeaten record in 2014] and the Groves fight, when he steps up to the highest level his lack of boxing ability seems to let him down.”

Smith still credits Eubank with being a very physically fit athlete, but rates him as a much better middleweight than super middleweight and says that his lack of natural ability will continue to be a hindrance against elite competition.

Eubank, of course, just recently signed a new promotional deal with Kalle Sauerland and will supposedly take a tune-up bout before seeking a showdown against Gennadiy Golovkin. Golovkin himself is generally regarded to be on the downside of his boxing career, but do any of you think he’s slipped enough to lose a prospective fight against Eubank? It is worth noting that Eubank did manage to beat James DeGale in early 2019 — who once was a legitimate world champion — but DeGale was clearly only a shell of what he once was in that outing, retiring just after the loss.