Chris Eubank Jr. was the last man to enter the World Boxing Super Series' super middleweight tournament and is now among the WBSS' Final Four.
Eubank Jr. knocked out Avni Yildirim in the third round of a WBSS quarterfinals match in Stuttgart, Germany to advance the WBSS semifinals.
Late in the third round, Eubank Jr. unleashed a flurry of power shots to Yildirim that stunned him. Eubank Jr. took the opportunity to hit one more big punch, a stiff, sweeping right hook to the side of Yildirim's head. Yildirim immediately dropped to the middle of the canvas where the referee stopped the fight, not even attempting to give a 10-count to the downed Yildirim.
With the win, Eubank Jr. now faces Callum Smith, who was the first super middleweight to advance from the first round of the tournament, in the WBSS semifinals. That matchup is expected to take place in early 2018. Eubank Jr. entered the tournament when he beat Arthur Abraham to retain his IBO super middleweight title earlier this year.
As for Yildirim, the loss snapped his perfect pro boxing record, entering the fight with a 16-0 record. Yildirim won the WBC International super middleweight title when he beat Jussi Koivula back in May.
The next WBSS fight at 168 pounds will be WBA "super" super middleweight champion George Groves taking on Jamie Cox on October 14 in London. The remaining WBSS super middleweight first round match is Juergen Braehmer vs. Rob Brant on October 27.
