Eubank Jnr Claims British Middleweight Title

Last night, at the SSE Arena Wembley, Chris Eubank Jnr achieved his dream of winning the British middleweight title.

Having sacrificed a shot at a version of the world title, for the time being, to take on Nick Blackwell for the British title, Eubank Jnr produced the kind of performance that should see him make in-roads towards a tilt at the world title.

However, the night was to end worryingly with, after being stopped in the 10th round due to a nasty eye injury that saw his left eye close courtesy of a huge swelling, Blackwell collapsed and had to be carried away on a stretcher.

The fight was brutal; Blackwell caught Eubank Jnr with some stiff jabs but couldn?t keep the challenger at bay. Tome and time again Eubank Jnr caught Blackwell with some vicious upper-cuts that rocked the champions? head back.

Blackwell?s failure to move his head as he tried to get close to Eubank Jnr saw him caught far too often and when the constant stream of uppercuts stopped, Eubank Jnr switched his attacks to the body, taking the wind out of Blackwell?s sails.

Knowing he had the measure of Blackwell, Eubank Jnr resorted to exchanging ringside insults with Billy Joe Saunders and it almost proved to be his undoing with Blackwell catching Eubank Jnr with a crisp right-hand that appeared to trouble him.

Eubank Jnr continued to mount early assaults in each round and at one stage, with blood streaming from his nose and mouth, it looked as if Blackwell would be stopped, buy just as the referee, Victor Loughlin, looked ready to step in Blackwell unloaded a few punches of his own.

As the fight progressed to the tenth round Eubank Jnr was picking off Blackwell who, by now, was struggling to see out of a fast closing left-eye, concerned that unable to see out of that left-eye the ringside doctor was consulted and the fight was stopped.

Eubank Jnr accepted the adulation of the crowd for what had been a thrilling fight but those celebrations became somewhat muted when Blackwell collapsed and had to exit the ring on a stretcher.

Our congratulations go to Eubank Jnr but our thoughts this Easter Sunday are with Blackwell and we hope he makes a full recovery.