By Ian S Palmer
The interim WBA World Middleweight Title is on the line at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York this Saturday, December 7th when former IBO Super Middleweight Champion Chris Eubank Jr. of England takes on southpaw Matt Korobov of Russia. The 12-round bout can be seen live in the USA on Showtime and on TSN 2 in Canada. Eubank last fought in February when he beat James DeGale by unanimous decision for the vacant IBO Super Middleweight Crown. Korobov’s last action was in May when he battled to a 10-round draw with Immanuwel Aleem.
Eubank originally lost his IBO title in the semifinals of the World Boxing Super Series in February, 2018 when he dropped a unanimous decision to George Groves in his third defence of the belt. The 30-year-old enters the ring at 28-2 with 21 Kos to his name. His best pro wins so far were against DeGale and a unanimous decision over Arthur Abraham in July of 2017. Eubank has good power and boxing skills but they weren’t enough to beat Groves or Billy Joe Saunders in November of 2014 when he lost a 12-round split decision to Saunders for the European, British and Commonwealth Middleweight Championship Belts.
Eubank enters the contest with 184 rounds of experience since turning pro in 2011. He’s also beaten Nick Blackwell, Avni Yildirim, Dmitrii Chudinov, Gary O’Sullivan and Bradley Price. Eubank stands 5-feet-11-inches tall with a 72.5-inch. He’s often displayed impressive power up to now with a current knockout ratio of 70 per cent. He’s been wobbled and cut a couple of times in the ring, but also has a solid chin.
Eubank’s at his best when he overwhelms his opponent with his relentless punching and is hard to keep at bay because of it. However, he isn’t the hardest guy to hit if he gets goaded into a slugfest, but most boxers prefer not to go toe-to-toe with him. That being said, Saunders beat him by outboxing him in a close fight while the loss against Groves was more of a brawl.
The 36-year-old Korobov is best known for his fine losing effort against Jermall Charlo for the WBC Middleweight Title last December in which he dropped a unanimous decision. Charlo was supposed to meet Willie Monroe Jr, but he failed a pre-fight drug test while Korobov was scheduled to fight on the undercard and filled in for Monroe. Korobov, who fights out of Saint Petersburg, Florida, enjoyed a fine amateur career by winning gold at the 2005 and 2007 World Amateur Championships and a 2001 European junior championship.
He fought in the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China and went 1-1 and holds an amateur win over Sergiy Derevyanchenko. Korobov turned pro later in 2008 and has 176 rounds under his belt since then. He’ll enter the ring with an impressive record of 28-2-1 with 14 Kos. His first pro loss came at the hands of Andy Lee by way of sixth-round stoppage in December of 2014.
Korobov stands 5-feet-11-inches tall with a 70.5-inch reach so gives up two inches in reach to Eubank.
He’s a tough, durable guy despite the knockout loss to lee but he isn’t that powerful with a current knockout ratio of 45.2 per cent. His biggest wins have been against Brian Vera, Jose Uzcategui, Derek Edwards, Grady Brewer, Ossie Duran, Derrick Findley and Milton Nunez.
Prediction…
Korobov’s 36 years old and that won’t help him against the 30-year-old Eubank but he’s a pretty durable boxer who could very well cause some problems and take the former champ into deep water. Still, when all is said and done I’m expecting Eubank to have his hand held up as the winner.
