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Boxing

Chris Eubank Jr is a bigger name than Gennadiy Golovkin, claims promoter

Chris Eubank Jr is a bigger name than Gennadiy Golovkin, claims promoterDAZN

Kalle Sauerland believes that Chris Eubank Jr vs. Liam Smith could be a historic fight.

The pair fight on January 21 at the AO Arena in Manchester, in a fight shown live on DAZN (US, Canada, DACH and Japan only).

The winner could emerge as a title contender at middleweight, and promoter Sauerland would like the WBC to consider the clash a championship eliminator.

"We welcome it, we wouldn't say no," Sauerland said Sky Sports of the possibility of an eliminator.

"But does it add spice? For me, no. Because let's face it Junior is the undisputed star of the division at the moment.

"I mean that respectfully towards 'GGG' [Gennadiy Golovkin] because he's having a timeout, whatever he's doing. But the superstar is Junior at the moment.

"And when I say superstar I mean eyeballs, money, numbers. That's professional boxing. Erislandy Lara is a world champion. If I pitched you Lara versus Eubank, you'd say Kalle have another one, right? As a blockbuster. Now, I could go and do that in a casino somewhere in America, in front of 400 people, great.

"Whilst I like the idea of it being an eliminator and the WBC involved, I'm also a realist and this is a blockbuster by itself. It's two huge traditional families in UK boxing and you've got both of them in arguably the toughest fights of their careers. What more do I want?

"This has got all the spice and trimmings already, if that comes along - amazing. But this is a throwback fight."

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Sauerland predicted that the fight will go down as one of the best of the decade.

"This is about making a fight that we will go back and watch again in 10 years. When you say making a historic fight, that's what it means," he added.

"I believe that this is a fight that people can go back and watch on a par with Eubank Senior fights, or the Eubank Junior-George Groves fight with that epic last round.

"There's been so many great fights in that venue over the years. That's what I'm thinking that we're going to see and once again this fight has not been made by sanctioning bodies, it's not been made by promoters, it's not been made by networks - it's been made by the fans.

"We focus on January 21.

"Let's not look past the first blockbuster because that's the first mistake you make in boxing and the last.

"Hence the rematch clause!" he added.

"That's not Junior's choice, it's the 'evil' promoter's choice. That was a condition. When you bring the A-side, you go with rematches. That's the business.

"Anything can happen in boxing."