Chris Eubank Jr has offered to give his British middleweight title belt to Nick Blackwell, the man he defeated in March’s title bout.
Blackwell was placed in an induced coma after the fight, having suffered bleeding on the skull, and has since criticised the Eubank camp for holding a press conference while he remained unconscious.
The Trowbridge fighter retired from boxing after awaking from the coma, at the age of 25.
Eubank made the offer on ITV show Good Morning Britain, having earlier expressed his shock at his opponent’s comments.
Pretty shocked at what Nick has said about me & my father today. Regardless of how he feels about me I still wish him nothing but the best.
— Chris Eubank Jr (@ChrisEubankJr) May 23, 2016
But Mick Hennessy, Blackwell’s opponent, has claimed the belt is “not Eubank’s to give away”.
“On the face of it, it seems like a really kind gesture from Chris, but, unfortunately, he has no right to make those sort of claims,” Hennessy explained.
“Once he has made three defences of the title, and won it outright, he can do what he wants with it. It will be his to keep. But, until then, anything he says in relation to handing the belt over to Nick has to be viewed, in my opinion, as pure opportunism.”
Blackwell had made two successful title defences before meeting Eubank Jr. in March.
He had been unbeaten since October 2013 going into his third defence, which was stopped in the 10th round.
Eubank Jr will return to the ring on June 25 against Tom Doran at the O2 Arena in London, on the undercard of the Anthony Joshua v Dominic Breazale IBF title fight.
Set to fight international WBC champ @dazzlindoran on June 25 live on Sky Sports 1. Can't wait for this #TeamEubank pic.twitter.com/D8UTlgQ8Y4
— Chris Eubank Jr (@ChrisEubankJr) May 19, 2016
