Eubank should have too much speed for veteran Abraham

IBO world super-middleweight title
ITV Box Office 10pm approx Saturday

Chris Eubank Jr will be taking a big step up in class when he faces seasoned campaigner Arthur Abraham at Wembley Arena but bookmakers have no doubt he will win the fight.

The Brit is long odds-on to keep the title he won from little-known Renold Quinlan, yet Abraham is much higher calibre than anyone he has faced over the last couple of years.

Abraham is a former three-time, two-weight world champion with 46 wins under his belt. He had ten successful defences of the IBF middleweight title between 2005 and 2009, and held the WBO super-middleweight strap for four years until he was beaten by the division's top dog Gilberto Ramirez last year.

He has been stopped only once in 51 fights despite facing big punchers such as Carl Froch, Andre Dirrell, Edison Miranda and Jermain Taylor so Eubank will not find it easy to get an early finish.

For whatever reason, Eubank decided against taking on superstar Gennady Golovkin or a rematch against Billy Joe Saunders at middleweight last year and instead moved up to 168lbs, and it is hard to judge how much he has progressed since losing to Saunders on points at the end of 2014 as he has been so lightly matched.

That said, he does have plenty of potential and could have beaten Saunders had he not started so slowly. Whether he is better suited to super-middleweight is unknown, but at 27 Eubank is coming into his prime while at 37 Abraham is entering the twilight of his career.

Abraham has won ten of his last 11 fights, but his performances have not been great and he failed to impress in two fights against Paul Smith, while Martin Murray was unfortunate to lose a split decision to Abraham in Germany a couple of years ago.

Ramirez absolutely dominated Abraham in Las Vegas in 2015, winning every round on all three judges' cards, which came as no surprise because he does not travel well - he has fought outside Germany only six times and lost four of them.

The bottom line is Eubank should have far too much speed and energy for Abraham at this stage of his career, and even if it is relatively close the veteran can't rely on a hometown decision to save him, but he retains his durability.

Nine of Abraham's last 11 fights have gone the distance and Eubank was not noted as a huge puncher at 160lbs so is unlikely to have massive power at 168. Back Eubank to win on the scorecards.

Recommendation
C Eubank Jr on points
2pts 5-6 Betfair

Fast and furious super-feathers

Berchelt v Miura
BoxNation, from 3am Saturday night
Expect a fast and furious fight for WBC super-featherweight honours when champion Miguel Berchelt takes on mandatory challenger Takashi Miura in California.

Both men love to go to war and rarely go the distance, and putting them together should be explosive.

Berchelt is the 2-5 favourite but it could go either way.

Recommendation
Either fighter in rounds 7-12
1pt 11-8 Sky Bet