When Gennady Golovkin couldn't secure a fight with Canelo Alvarez, a fight with Chris Eubank Jr. looked to be the next logical choice, but according to Eubank that fight didn't occur thanks to promoter Eddie Hearn
In a lengthy interview with iFL TV, Eubank said Hearn was one of the key factors in Golovki's camp opting to fight Kell Brook and even called Brook a "yes man" to a certain extent. Golovkin defeated Brook on September 10 to retain his middleweight belts.
“Eddie [Hearn] saw an easy way out," Eubank said. "He saw a way to make things easier for himself by giving the fight away to Kell [Brook]. We we in negotiations, we were negotiating everything for the fight and we were close to getting it completely done but we’re not rollovers, we’re not just going to accept everything you tell us. We’re not yes-men. We’re fighters and we’re gonna take what we deserve, whereas obviously Kell was like ‘listen, yes’ to everything that Eddie wanted."
While Eubank was not happy with the fight not happening, he is still confident that he is fighting the unified middleweight champion at some time in 2017.
“People ask me was I was upset, was I was pissed off? It was a missed opportunity but at the same time everything happens for a reason and that fight is still there to be made," Eubank said. "It will still happen, and I believe it will happen in 2017.”
The 27-year-old former champion is challenging Renold Quinlan for his IBO title on February 4, 2017 in London, England.
Credit to Bad Left Hook for transcription of the interview.