Chris Eubank Jr. moves on from Conor Benn to fight for IBO World title
Promoter Kalle Sauerland has confirmed that Chris Eubank Jr. (33-3, 24KO) will fight IBO World middleweight champion Etinosa Oliha (19-0, 8KO) next.
The Brighton boxer has walked away from a mega-money fight with born rival Conor Benn, in order to fight for the IBO championship instead.
Ranked IBO #1 at middleweight, Eubank has held the IBO World super-middleweight championship twice before.
The 34-year-old was in entangled in lengthy talks with Matchroom Boxing for many months in a bid to reignite the cursed contest with Conor Benn. The rivals were negotiating a Ferbuary 3rd stadium fight, which promoter Eddie Hearn was quoted saying that Eubank had turned down huge money, "Yeah, he couldn't do a deal with him. Eubank saw the offers; just huge money he's turned turned down. Conor was in, signed, agreed, waiting. Conor said to me 'I don't think he's going to take the fight'. I disagreed, but he was right. I don't know what Eubank is going to do, he can never make money like that, but he's his own man."
Wasserman Boxing promoter, Kalle Sauerland, confirmed the fight was dead, "Yeah, we didn't make it," the German told IFL TV. "We couldn't make it commercially work and there's not really much else to say, we've moved on. That fight is, as I stand here now, absolutely dead in the water. It was a commercial discussion, I'll leave it at that."
He confirmed Eubank's next fight, "The IBO have ordered him to face the champ [Etinosa Oliha], 19-0 undefeated, so yeah it's a tough fight."
Oliha is a 25-year-old unbeaten Nigerian-Italian, with a decent amateur background. His first 16 bouts were all at home in Italy, but he was forced to travel abroad to capture his world title.
All three fights during 2023 were held in Germany, firstly winning the WBO Inter-Continental middleweight belt via knockout, before claiming the vacant IBO strap in July against 16-0 Julio Alamos, winning via unanimous decision; then finished the year with a maiden defence in November to another 16-0 fighter, Faton Vukshinaj, again by UD.
Find out all about Eubank's next opponent below.
Who is Etinosa Oliha?
Etinosa Oliha was born July 13, 1998 in Turin, Italy.
His parents, Patricia and Murphy Oliha, are Nigerian immigrants who moved to Italy when Etinosa was five-years-old. He has an older brother and two older sisters.
The Italian is trained by Davide Greguoldo.
They trained together since he was 14 and won the 2016 Italian Youth Championships.
His amateur record was 45-12-2.
His boxing nickname is "El Chapo".
He is trained electrician.
Roll of Honour:
IBO World middleweight title
WBO Intercontinental middleweight title
IBO Mediterranean middleweight title
Italian middleweight title
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