Chris Eubank Jr.'s career had been marred by one simple fact -- no signature victories against a top opponent, but that has now changed.
Eubank got his big win with a dominant performance against former IBF super middleweight champion James DeGale at the O2 Arena in London. Thanks to two knockdowns during the fight, Eubank won the fight by unanimous decision (114-112, 115-112, 117-109), claiming the IBO super middleweight title and becoming a two-time IBO titleholder.
The fight saw the physically superior Eubank overwhelm DeGale almost from the start. Eubank scored the first knockdown of the fight in the second round by landing a flurry of punches, dropping DeGale. Although DeGale got back up, he never looked comfortable in the ring, constantly having to deal with Eubank's speed and power. The second knockdown saw Eubank land a big left hook that sent DeGale to the ropes and eventually led to Eubank dropping his opponent once more.
After the fight DeGale hinted at a possible retirement, saying that he has accomplished everything he could as a boxer. DeGale has won multiple world champions, an Olympic gold medal in 2008 and has fought many of the division's top names over the last decade.
The 29-year-old Eubank, son of British great Chris Eubank Sr., improves his record to 28-2, but after losses to Billy Joe Saunders and George Groves, the younger Eubank's ability to become a world class boxer were put into question. A win over DeGale now puts Eubank in contention for one of the major world titles. Entering the fight, Eubank was ranked No. 3 by the WBC but the win and Anthony Dirrell winning the vacant WBC title almost certainly assures Eubank the No. 1 spot in the next WBC rankings update.