Chris Eubank Jr claims WBA middleweight title belt on US debut after Matt Korobov suffers freak injury

CHRIS EUBANK JR claimed the interim WBA middleweight world title in less than FOUR minutes after opponent Matt Korobov suffered a freak shoulder injury. The 30-year-old dropped down a division for his US debut against the Russian and was declared the winner by TKO just 34 seconds into the second round. Eubank Jr was initially […]

CHRIS EUBANK JR claimed the interim WBA middleweight world title in less than FOUR minutes after opponent Matt Korobov suffered a freak shoulder injury.

The 30-year-old dropped down a division for his US debut against the Russian and was declared the winner by TKO just 34 seconds into the second round.

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Eubank Jr was initially put on the back foot in the opening round in Brooklyn after Korobov sent him back with clubbing left-handed blows.

However, the Russian-American appeared to suffer a dislocation after throwing a punch shortly after the start of round two at New York’s Barclays Center.

After grabbing his shoulder in pain, Korobov walked back towards the corner and referee Steve Willis was forced to call a halt to the fight.

The 36-year-old was unable to continue the 12-round contest and Eubank was declared the winner via a technical stoppage to claim the interim WBA middleweight belt.

Speaking after the fight, the Brighton-based fighter shared his disappointment that he was unable to put on a show for his Stateside debut.

I feel like I was just about to get my swagger on. This wasn’t my dream debut here, I wanted to get my knockout and excite the fans

Chris Eubank Jr

“I feel like I was just about to get my swagger on.

“I hit him with a shot, and he turned around and stopped.

“I was about to go at him, but the referee told us to stop. I guess something happened with his shoulder, I don’t know.

“There’s nothing to take from the fight, I threw like three or four punches. I was just warming up.

“Karma is a real thing, whatever he’s done, I don’t know, there’s a reason whatever happened happened.

“This wasn’t my dream debut here, I wanted to get my knockout and excite the fans.”

Eubank’s victory was his first since ending James DeGale’s career with a unanimous decision victory in February to stretch his record to 29-2.

He added: “2020 I want to be super active, I want to fight for the belts.

“Now that I’ve landed, I’ve settled with the new promotional team, I feel like the ball can really get rolling in 2020.”