Chris Eubank Jr has signed with German promoters Sauerland as he looks to return to the ring after more than a year away.
The 31-year-old former IBO middleweight champion last fought Matt Koborov in December 2019 but the coronavirus pandemic has obstructed his career plans since then.
The promoters teased a big announcement for Sunday on social media over the weekend, amid reports that they had finalised a deal with the son of former super-middleweight great Chris Eubank Sr.
Eubank is the current WBA interim champion in the middleweight division and is keen to fight Ryota Murata, Gennadiy Golovkin, Jermall Charlo and Demetrius Andrade as he chases a world championship. He has been training with Roy Jones Jr as he attempts to sharpen his game.
Speaking after he signed with Sauerland, he said: I’m ready to take over the middleweight division. I want all the champions – Murata, Charlo, Andrade, Golovkin – put me in the ring with any of them
“I only want to fight the best. This is my time. If you have a belt, I’m coming for you.”
One fight that looks unlikely to happen is a second meeting with Billy Jones Saunders, who defeated Eubank in 2014.
The WBO super middleweight champion told The Sun: "He will never be a champion because he hasn’t got the minerals."
“You have to be a special type of creature and a bit of a lunatic to want to get in the ring and start giving it and taking - and enjoying it.
“When you get someone like him, who has had the nice upbringing, he has been taught to hold his hands up but he doesn’t have that venom in him. He is not good at all.
“I am going to completely dismiss him and move on. I don’t rate Eubank Jr at world level, I just want to completely dismiss him.”