LONDON - It was not pretty to watch. There is no polite way to disguise the predictable massacre on Saturday night at Olympia when Chris Eubank Jr hit a human punchbag for ten rounds.
Eubank Jr won the IBO super-middleweight belt, which he later described as his "ticket" to boxing riches, when Howard Foster had finally seen enough and saved Renold Quinlan at 2:07 of the tenth. The Australian smiled in relief at the intervention.
It had not been competitive at any point and if Foster, one of Britain's finest referees, had waved the one-sided mismatch off in round seven there would not have been a single complaint. Quinlan's bravery has to be measured against his multiple inadequacies as a legitimate world champion and the final calculation is simple: he should not have been anywhere near the ring and all talk of his guts and bravery needs to be mentioned alongside clueless, novice and helpless. I knew Eubank would finish it by the tenth, but I had no idea how limited Quinlan was.
Eubank Jr hit poor Quinlan with combinations that most fighters would struggle to land when standing in front of a hanging bag. He is, under those absurd circumstances, brilliant to watch but the problem with most boxers at this level is that they have an annoying habit of doing two things: they hit back and they move their feet. Quinlan fought like a pacifist and standing up and taking a beating is what boxers get paid for; they are also paid to fight, to devise a strategy and to try.
The double act between Eubank Jr and his father, Chris Sr, was the highlight of the night and behind a canopy of excesses and glorious eccentricities there are signs that the dad might actually make a good trainer. Ronnie Davies, the gnarled and seasoned boxing man in the Eubank corner, completes the entertaining package. Davies held little Chris on the day he was born and a long, long way from the merry bluster there is a hardcore, often hidden, element to the life and times of the fighting Eubanks; at its very centre is Davies. There were many nights when Davies helped Eubank Sr win a grim fight and other nights when Davies worked on the bleeds, the bruises and the shattered body of his good friend far from the ring's glare.
"I have made an offer to James DeGale," said Eubank Sr. "I have now picked him as the next challenger. This belt has just become the most important in the business." DeGale has not yet replied and is unlikely to desert the Sky platform and surrender anything at the negotiating table; his IBF belt and wins are superior to anything offered by the Eubanks. It might happen at some point, but it will not happen in April.
"I sparred with him and I know what I can do and so does he," added Eubank Jr. "It is a fight the public want to see. This belt is my ticket, this will allow me to challenge all the other champions." DeGale is not scared, but like all champions he is scared of not making the right amount of money and any fight with Eubank Jr would be treacherous to make.
Eubank Sr once defended his WBO super-middleweight title six times in one year with fights in Berlin, Sun City, Belfast, London, Cardiff and Manchester. It easy to predict an equally relentless schedule for Eubank Jr with obscure opponents being plucked from the four corners of the fighting globe and his ITV paymasters demanding, quite correctly, nothing more sinister than the Brazilian edition of Quinlan. There has been talk of a fight in Dubai and that sounds like my type of carnival, one with the requisite amount of conmen, falcons and fake sheiks to make it both ridiculous and enjoyable.
There was talk late on Saturday night about a second fight with current WBO middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders, which is a fight that should have happened six months after Eubank Jr lost to Saunders in 2014. "Saunders needs me, all he has ever done is beat me," insisted Eubank Jr. A rematch would do fantastic business but it is fantasy right now; most of the men put forward by Eubank Sr will never fight his son.
It is too easy to forget that Eubank Jr can really fight and his jab, a relic from boxing's dark past, is welcome in a sport determined to introduce as much new jargon as possible. There will be hard fights, proper championship fights on nights that matter and when they happen I fully expect the son to add his name to the list his father has such a prominent position on. The Quinlan show was just a taster, nothing to get upset at and nothing to really praise. It was good boxing business.