Talks Have Started For Canelo Alvarez v Chris Eubank, Says Ben Shalom
Early negotiations have already begun for a super-middleweight world title fight between unified champion Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez and Chris Eubank, promoter Ben Shalom has said.
Alvarez (62-2-2 39 KO) and Eubank (34-3-0 25 KO) had previously been in talks about fighting each other, only for the Mexican to choose Edgar Berlanga as his most recent opponent. It was generally thought that the negotiations with Eubank were being used by Team Canelo as leverage to get a deal done to fight Berlanga, whom Alvarez defeated in a fairly comfortable points victory in Las Vegas in September.
Eubank, meanwhile, returned to the ring for the first time in over a year earlier this month when he stopped Polish veteran Kamil Szeremeta in the seventh round of their bout in Riyadh on the undercard of Artur Beterbiev v Dimitry Bivol. The victory secured Eubank the IBO middleweight world title.
With Eubank now back active and Canelo searching for his next opponent – inevitably for Cinco de Mayo weekend – the British fighter’s promoter Shalom has revealed contact has been made between the two camps.
“The two fights for me are Canelo and Conor Benn. We’ve already started small conversations around the Canelo fight,” Shalom told Sky Sports. “Obviously that [Canelo fight] was close last time. I believe that’s a fight that interests Canelo. You can imagine the press conference in the UK and the US, it would be absolutely huge.
“I think Canelo needs dance partners but he also needs stars. I don’t think his last couple of opponents have been the biggest stars and Chris Eubank Jr’s certainly a big star. If he’s ever going to fight in the UK, that’s the fight and that would sell out Wembley Stadium. That’s No 1 on the list for me.”
Eubank, one of the biggest stars in British boxing despite never winning a major world title, has held talks in the past with several big names, including former middleweight world champion Gennady Golovkin – but no fights have ever materialized, with Team Eubank often accused of making unreasonable demands.
The 35-year-old recently told the BBC that he still has a few years left of his career, and he is targeting only big fights – chief among them Canelo and family rival Conor Benn, whom he was scheduled to face in October 2022 before Benn failed a drug test.
“That fight can absolutely happen within the next year,” Eubank Jr said. “He doesn’t have the pool of fighters available – there aren’t names left that fight fans want to see. After [David] Benavidez, there are no other guys. Maybe [Artur] Beterbiev and [Dmitry] Bivol but they are not in his weight class and he probably wouldn’t go up for those guys.
“Me and Canelo would be a hell of a build-up. Two very different personalities, very different background. That would be a lot of fun. It will be a lot of fun.”
Eubank is confident that he would be able to handle to increased attention and hype that surrounds Canelo fights, insisting that he has the temperament to not be undone by psychological tricks or pressure.
“Nobody gets under my skin. Everybody has tried, everybody has failed,” Eubank Jr said. “He likes things to go smoothly, he doesn’t like the trash-talk or the disrespect. You can’t give any edge, you have to win each and every fight before the real fight but nobody is better at mind games and mental edges than me.”
