Chris Eubank Jr v Sven Elbir: Junior's speed and skill will be too much for Batman

Chris Eubank Jr v Sven Elbir
Saturday, 22:00
Live on Sky Sports

Eubank headlines at Wembley

On Saturday, Chris Eubank Jr headlines an intriguing card at Wembley Arena when the Englishman battles Germany's Sven Elbir over 12 rounds. This will be Junior's second outing of the year, and he knows he must score an impressive win if he is to push himself back into contention for the big fights at middleweight.

Despite going in on the back of a strong winning run, Eubank looks no closer to the division's top names than he did when beating James DeGale at the O2 Arena in February 2019. That will be a source of frustration for all connected to Team Eubank, and the Brighton boxer will aim to take it out on his German opponent in front of a big crowd.

Junior boasts a winning run

Eubank enters this weekend's test with a 30-2-0 record, 22 of those victories coming by way of knockout. The 32-year-old's only previous defeats came against long-term rival Billy Joe Saunders on a split decision in 2014 and George Groves in a super middleweight world title fight in 2018. Since losing to Saint George, Eubank has fought four, won four and scored two knockouts. That fine run of includes a famous points win over DeGale, sending Chunky to the canvas on two occasions.

Despite many fighters struggling to get work this year due to the COVID-19 restrictions placed on the sport, this will be the second outing of 2021 for Chris. His previous bout resulted in a 10-round points decision win over Manchester's Marcus Morrison in May. Many pundits had predicted a knockout but the six rounds winning margin on all three cards shows just how comfortable the victor was that night.

The pre-fight betting odds available on the Betfair Exchange throws up no surprises, with Eubank a red-hot favourite. He is 1.011/100 for the win, which means backers are forced to go on the hunt for value. In the method of victory betting, a KO/TKO is 1.031/33 with a points win 1211/1. It may be worth noting two of Eubank's last three wins have come on the judges' scorecards.

Batman descends on London

Elbir - dubbed Batman - arrives in London as a rank outsider to win but is desperate to ruin the party. He knows he is the underdog and will understand why but is also aware of what an upset win would do for his career. Beating Eubank would not only fire him up through the rankings from his current position of 42nd in the world, but it would also secure him a major payday in his next fight, perhaps even before the end of the year.

The Berlin fighter comes to the UK with an 18-1-0 record with 14 knockouts already on his card. The 74% KO average is sure to catch the attention of Eubank's training team and ensure they don't turn up expecting to walk through Sven. If they do, Eubank could be made to pay a painful price with a first stoppage defeat on his record. The visitor's only loss came against Patrick Wojcicki in Wolfsburg over 12 rounds for the IBF Inter-Continental belt three years ago.

Since suffering that narrow points defeat, Batman has won each of his last six, all but one coming inside the distance. He stopped Jose Miguel Torres in four last time with that bout coming in July. Elbir can be backed at 2625/1 for the win with another KO/TKO 3130/1. The points verdict on British soil against one of our most famous fighters is unlikely to attract much attention, even at the 9190/1 offered on the Sportsbook.

Underdog won't be easy to budge

Elbir has limited experience over 12 rounds, is making a step up in class here and is the away fighter, but he has never been stopped and is expected to test Eubank, taking him into the second half of the contest. The underdog's best chance of winning looks to be by knockout, and he's likely to go looking for that in the middle rounds.

Eubank will keep things at his distance, use his speed and boxing ability to pull clear on the scorecards. If things go to plan for the favourite, Elbir may be happy to see out the fight. Back Junior for a third points win in four - it's just too big at the price.