Chris Eubank Jr’s promoter Kalle Sauerland has listed two potential opponents that his 34-year-old world title hopeful could go up against next, labelling one as a ‘fantastic fight.’
Eubank has been linked to a grudge match with Conor Benn for almost two years now, and their showdown was set to go ahead in 2022, before Benn’s infamous drugs test led to the cancellation of the bout.
Since then, Eubank has twice fought former super-welterweight world champion Liam Smith, picking up his first knockout defeat in their initial encounter, before getting his sweet revenge with a stoppage win of his own in their rematch.
Now Eubank is ranked across in three of the four sanctioning bodies and could be poised to challenge unified title-holder Janibek Alimkhanuly in a bid to finally become a world champion.
Although, Sauerland told talkSPORT that the Kazakh is not the only option as he revealed another potential name, before admitting that the proposed battle with Benn is ‘not on the table’.
“I think that the Kell Brook fight is a fantastic fight for the UK, at the same time, internationally, he is recognised by a lot of people as the number one middleweight right now, so Janibek [Alimkhanuly] is an obvious fight, but the dollars have to add up, it is as simple as that.
“I’d much rather be talking about that fight [with Benn] than talking about the potential of that fight. I think that we were close last year, I just think that it dragged on too long and in boxing sometimes things like that explode. It is not on the table at the moment and it is not being discussed at the moment.”
Brook was last in action in February 2022 when he stopped long-term rival Amir Khan. He later announced his retirement, but has teased making a return on several occasions.
as for Eubank, despite remaining well-ranked, he has now lost his position as the number one contender with the WBO, with a fellow Brit now well poised to take advantage and take the opportunity to face Alimkhanuly this year.