Britain’s Chris Eubank got hard earned win Saturday night

It was far from a work of art, but Chris Eubank, Jr. kept himself very much in the picture for a World Super Middleweight Championship chance after a solid unanimous-decision win over fellow British contender James DeGale Saturday night.

In front of a packed house at the O2 Arena in London, Eubank, the son of former British star fighter Chris Eubank Sr., controlled the action in the 12-round main event.

Eubank scored a knockdown in the second round by landing a big right hand, and then after a couple of sloppy misses, a follow-up left hook drove DeGale to the corner before he eventually dropped his opponent with another right hand at the top of the head.

Eubank could not finish DeGale off in the final minute of that second round, and then, both fighters settled in for what was at times a sloppy affair with lots of holding and warnings for the referee. Eubank continued to score with wild right hands and an occasional left jab while DeGale offered, little-to-no offense for much of the fight.

With Eubank comfortably in front, he scored his second knockdown midway through the 10th round when another couple of big right hands landed, and he awkwardly scored an inside punch, as DeGale, again went down on one knee briefly.

Eubank lost his composure briefly in the 11th round, as he threw DeGale to the ground after being clinched repeatedly late in the fight. He had a point deducted by the referee, but it ended up not mattering on the final judges scorecards.

Those read 114 – 112, 115 – 112 and 117 – 109 all in favor of the now 28 – 2 Eubank. DeGale who’s 4 years older at 33, dropped to 25-3 and said after the fight that it was likely his last.

Meanwhile, for Eubank, he remains ranked in the top five rankings for the WBC and the WBA and hopes to potentially get a shot at one of the recognized major championship belts at 168 lbs. later this year