Chris Eubank Jr has been warned against exercising his rematch clause with Liam Smith by former cruiserweight champion Johnny Nelson, and advised to move back up to super-middleweight.
The Brighton native decided four years ago after his win over James DeGale for the IBO title at 168lb that he would move down in weight in order to pursue one of the major belts, and his long-time rival Gennady Golovkin. But after struggling to book fights with world-level opponents during the pandemic, he finally matched against a fighter near the top of the division in Liam Smith.
Unfortunately for Eubank Jr, despite a good start to the contest with Smith on Saturday night in Manchester, he was viciously knocked out in the fourth and injured under his eye. And Nelson believes that he needs the extra weight to be able to compete at the top level, with his punch resistance seemingly lessened at 160lb.
"I won't take anything away from Liam because I think he boxed brilliant," Nelson told Seconds Out immediately after the fight. "But I think what that shows is that Chris getting down to whatever weight it is - when Chris went he was gone. It just makes you fragile and that's what you saw. George Groves didn't do that to Chris, Billy Joe Saunders didn't do that to Chris.
"You've just got to think that if you're going to do that you have to be smart about how you do it. I wouldn't do [the rematch] at that weight, No.1. And No.2, I think there's going to be a lot of soul searching if you're torn up like that, beat up like that it's hard to get your head around it. Once bitten, twice shy, what do you do?"
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Eubank Jr is still just 33-years-old, but since he's emerged as a world level contender he's never been further from a world title opportunity than he is now. Had Smith lost, Nelson believes he may not have continued to box at all having already held world honours, but he is confident that Eubank Jr will continue, ideally at a higher weight class.
Asked what advice he would give the fighter after such a tough loss, Nelson replied: "Move up in weight, Tony Bellew boxed at light-heavyweight, he got torn up and moved to cruiserweight. All the successes and all his talents came together, so he should actually go up to super-middleweight."
