‘Lackluster’: Hearn, Sauerland discuss Catterall vs Eubank after technical decision

Eddie Hearn and Kalle Sauerland give their thoughts on Catterall-Eubank.

Jack Catterall and Harlem Eubank got cut short on Saturday, with Catterall taking a technical decision win over Eubank after a clash of heads stopped the fight one second into the seventh round, or really after six rounds.

The fight wasn’t much for entertainment by the time it was stopped, with both fighters pretty nastily cut, but it still feels like unfinished business even if you agree with the judges that for what we saw, Catterall was the better man on the night.

Catterall’s promoter Eddie Hearn believes that Catterall’s class was starting to show against Eubank:

“(It was a) lackluster start from both, herky-jerky and edgy. I think Jack started to take control of the fight, landed some good shots in five and six, and I think he would have gotten to him. Harlem didn’t really want to engage, wanted to make it tricky like he does. But I feel like Jack’s quality was starting to show.

“I think maybe (Eubank’s) corner wanted to go to the score cards, because they maybe thought that he might get a shake of it. For me, I thought it was 5-1 or 4-2 (for Catterall). A couple of the rounds, no one really did a lot, but Jack was starting to take control, he was always looking to be the aggressor in the fight. Harlem was jumping in a bit, but it was a solid win, and now we’ve got to look for big fights for Jack at 147.”

Eubank’s promoter Kalle Sauerland agreed that the fight hadn’t started so well in terms of being good entertainment, but also felt that both fighters were looking to turn up the heat later in the bout:

“It’s gutting for the fighters. Big, big camps for both sides, obviously, both expected results tonight and neither side got that result. For the crowd, great Manchester crowd, they’ve gone home, like, having watched 45 minutes instead of the full 90, as such. It’s unfortunate. I was just talking to Charlie, Harlem Eubank’s trainer, and it’s, like, our tactic was such-and-such, I’m not gonna say what it was in case a rematch does happen. But I think from Jack’s side, as well, their plan, both plans were to come later in the fight. Jack was nowhere to be seen on the front foot, which is quite rare for him, we expected him to come much more forward.”

“(It was an) absolute disaster of a beginning of a fight, because they were both finding their range. ... I’m not a fortune teller, it might have been an absolute stinker over 12 rounds. It could have also turned into a Fight of the Year contender. I’ve got no idea and nobody else does either, because unfortunately it got cut short.”

The chance for a rematch does seem pretty good. Hearn and Catterall (31-2, 13 KO) may prefer to move on to bigger names, and that might be possible, but it also might not be. The fight was overseen by both the IBF and WBA, whose welterweight titles are set to go vacant with Jaron “Boots” Ennis moving up in weight, but that doesn’t mean Catterall is guaranteed any vacant title fight based on this result, it was not an eliminator anything.

For Eubank (21-1, 9 KO), the Catterall rematch is likely to be the most money he’s going to be able to make, and of the two sides, obviously Eubank’s would want the rematch more, having come out of it with a loss.