I’M Also Done With Boxing’S Meddling Eu
By Frank Warren
The surprise twist of events with the announcement that Kell Brook, rather than Chris Eubank Jnr, would be tasked with taking on multi-titled middleweight Gennady Golovkin did not come as too much of a shock to me.
As Eddie Hearn politely alluded to, dealing with Eubank Snr is an excruciating and mind-numbing experience. I think I even ended up paying for a plentiful supply of Anadin via direct debit.
Unfortunately, it is the same old story. A sure-fire way not to make a fight is to price yourself out of it and make stupid demands – and that is what Eubank Snr does every time.
I take my hat off to Brook for jumping in to face the fearsome Kazakh. Credit to him for stepping up in much the same way Amir Khan did in agreeing to meet Canelo Alvarez.
Brook is a top fighter and he is taking on probably the toughest assignment out there. I know he is a big welterweight, but it probably wouldn’t make any odds if he was a genuine middleweight, the fact is he is going in against the best there is.
You have to look at Brook’s last few opponents and there was nothing there to write home about, but not for the want of trying. He is now rolling the dice and, for me, it is a big ask - but good luck to him.
He has solved a couple of issues for his promoter who had pretty much flagged up that Golovkin-Eubank and Brook-Vargas were done deals.
In my opinion, sticking Eubank in with Golovkin was, for the want of a better phrase, cashing him in, given that he had walked away from Matchroom before. It hasn’t happened because, for the all the big talk, actions speak louder than words. And camp Eubank is never short of those.
I said in Boxing News a couple of weeks back that I would rather see it than hear it, but I always knew seeing it was an unlikely prospect from my personal dealings with English.
We have been back and forth so many times over a rematch with Billy Joe Saunders, while he didn’t appear to be in a rush to fight Danny Jacobs when he was in a position to do so. Given that he declined those invitations to challenge for world honours, there really wasn’t much hope of getting him in the ring with Golovkin.
You would imagine the father-son relationship must now be on the rocks and it is staggering that we see the kid saying ‘I have not seen the contract’. That is bullshit.
We have negotiated numerous contracts with them and gone back and forth. Whether he sees them or not is another matter. The old man bangs on about the treatment of fighters by promoters, but his son is being treated worse than most boxers.
What advice does he receive? He just has to rely on his dad to do the right thing. We’ve seen in the past how that can end with Ricky Hatton and his father.
The old man is simply still craving the limelight, but you hope the kid will soon see the light.
Going back to when we had a promotional agreement on the go, Eubank Snr was outraged when my son George and his lad made contact with each other out in Las Vegas as they were there at the same time. It was as innocent as suggesting meeting up for a coffee, but Chris Snr viewed this as a conspiracy and against etiquette.
‘How dare you approach my fighter’, he raged. What he was terrified of, I suspect, was his son knowing what was going on.
If he doesn't know what is going on it is a great shame. If he does know then shame on him for exploiting the situation, calling out the champions and then going on to fight lop-sided contests at domestic level.
The old man is a buffoon. His idea of negotiations is like 'I want a 1,000 tickets'. What does he think we pay the bloody fighters for? Ticket revenue is the income for the show. It is all about what he wants and thinks he can get.
I've dealt with four different advisors of various nationalities that he has brought in. He has recruited them in because he sells them the prospect of making fortunes.
Then these people look at us like we're the devil and I have said to all of them 'you will end up falling out with him before you fall out with me'.
Everyone of them has been astonished by him. If they have all put money up, they are all out of pocket.
With me, none of the problems were over money. The first time a Saunders rematch didn't go through was because he would not vacate an interim title to enable him to fight for a WBO full title.
Then he vacated it after his next fight rather than fight Jacobs!
I rather suspect the boy Eubank is seriously peed-off with the situation and that some choice words have been exchanged within Team Eubank, wondering where the hell he goes from here.
Does Saunders-Eubank II remain an option? I don’t want to waste any more time and energy on it. If the kid wants the fight he needs to hire himself a sensible lawyer and we will negotiate in private.
As far as dealing with EU is concerned it’s Brexit time for me.
I’m off the Anadin now – and would like it to stay that way!
More from Frank tomorrow
Unfortunately, it is the same old story. A sure-fire way not to make a fight is to price yourself out of it and make stupid demands – and that is what Eubank Snr does every time.
I take my hat off to Brook for jumping in to face the fearsome Kazakh. Credit to him for stepping up in much the same way Amir Khan did in agreeing to meet Canelo Alvarez.
Brook is a top fighter and he is taking on probably the toughest assignment out there. I know he is a big welterweight, but it probably wouldn’t make any odds if he was a genuine middleweight, the fact is he is going in against the best there is.
You have to look at Brook’s last few opponents and there was nothing there to write home about, but not for the want of trying. He is now rolling the dice and, for me, it is a big ask - but good luck to him.
He has solved a couple of issues for his promoter who had pretty much flagged up that Golovkin-Eubank and Brook-Vargas were done deals.
In my opinion, sticking Eubank in with Golovkin was, for the want of a better phrase, cashing him in, given that he had walked away from Matchroom before. It hasn’t happened because, for the all the big talk, actions speak louder than words. And camp Eubank is never short of those.
I said in Boxing News a couple of weeks back that I would rather see it than hear it, but I always knew seeing it was an unlikely prospect from my personal dealings with English.
We have been back and forth so many times over a rematch with Billy Joe Saunders, while he didn’t appear to be in a rush to fight Danny Jacobs when he was in a position to do so. Given that he declined those invitations to challenge for world honours, there really wasn’t much hope of getting him in the ring with Golovkin.
You would imagine the father-son relationship must now be on the rocks and it is staggering that we see the kid saying ‘I have not seen the contract’. That is bullshit.
We have negotiated numerous contracts with them and gone back and forth. Whether he sees them or not is another matter. The old man bangs on about the treatment of fighters by promoters, but his son is being treated worse than most boxers.
What advice does he receive? He just has to rely on his dad to do the right thing. We’ve seen in the past how that can end with Ricky Hatton and his father.
The old man is simply still craving the limelight, but you hope the kid will soon see the light.
Going back to when we had a promotional agreement on the go, Eubank Snr was outraged when my son George and his lad made contact with each other out in Las Vegas as they were there at the same time. It was as innocent as suggesting meeting up for a coffee, but Chris Snr viewed this as a conspiracy and against etiquette.
‘How dare you approach my fighter’, he raged. What he was terrified of, I suspect, was his son knowing what was going on.
If he doesn't know what is going on it is a great shame. If he does know then shame on him for exploiting the situation, calling out the champions and then going on to fight lop-sided contests at domestic level.
The old man is a buffoon. His idea of negotiations is like 'I want a 1,000 tickets'. What does he think we pay the bloody fighters for? Ticket revenue is the income for the show. It is all about what he wants and thinks he can get.
I've dealt with four different advisors of various nationalities that he has brought in. He has recruited them in because he sells them the prospect of making fortunes.
Then these people look at us like we're the devil and I have said to all of them 'you will end up falling out with him before you fall out with me'.
Everyone of them has been astonished by him. If they have all put money up, they are all out of pocket.
With me, none of the problems were over money. The first time a Saunders rematch didn't go through was because he would not vacate an interim title to enable him to fight for a WBO full title.
Then he vacated it after his next fight rather than fight Jacobs!
I rather suspect the boy Eubank is seriously peed-off with the situation and that some choice words have been exchanged within Team Eubank, wondering where the hell he goes from here.
Does Saunders-Eubank II remain an option? I don’t want to waste any more time and energy on it. If the kid wants the fight he needs to hire himself a sensible lawyer and we will negotiate in private.
As far as dealing with EU is concerned it’s Brexit time for me.
I’m off the Anadin now – and would like it to stay that way!
More from Frank tomorrow
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