Roy Jones Jr has shed some light on the conversations he had with Chris Eubank Jr following his shocking stoppage defeat to Liam Smith in January.
Eubank was stopped in four rounds by Smith at the Manchester Arena, the first time he had ever lost inside the distance in his professional career.
And trainer Jones’ revealed to the DAZN Boxing Show exactly what he said to his fighter following the crushing loss.
“The first thing I said to him was “now we can move forward.” Because one day I told him in training camp “sometimes, you’ve got to choose to take a body shot instead of a head shot.” And he said for him it might be vice versa, he’d rather take a head shot than a body shot.”
“I know he’d never been hurt and never been down, but you never know what happens when you get hit in the head a certain way. That’s really what I was trying to tell him. A head shot can cause damage, and you don’t know until after it happens.”
“But he had never been hurt before, so he didn’t understand that.”
Although there were some calls for Eubank to retire following the defeat to Smith, an announcement on his next fight appears to be imminent.
‘Next Gen’ looked set for another date with the Liverpudlian, after reports emerged that he had activated the contractual rematch clause.
However, he has recently emerged as a frontrunner for Conor Benn’s comeback fight, which is expected to land in Abu Dhabi on June 3rd.
The British Boxing Board of Control warned that any fighter, promoter or trainer involved in a bout with Benn was in danger of having their license revoked, which may prove to be a stumbling block for the contest.