Chris Eubank Jr showed up for his first face-off with Liam Smith wearing a jacket covered in KFC logos as part of a new sponsorship deal.
The boxer was seen eating buckets of fried chicken during a supposedly gruelling weight cut prior to his doomed bout with Conor Benn last month. And he claims those photo opportunities helped to create a relationship with the fast food giant, whom he is now representing ahead of his next fight.
Eubank Jr is known to struggle to make the 160lb middleweight limit, and was going to have to step even further down for his bout with Benn that was ultimately cancelled. But he often makes a joke of that weight cut when he poses for pictures and videos eating fatty foods during fight camp.
And after making an appearance wearing a KFC jacket at today's launch press conference for his fight with Smith, set for January 21 at the Manchester Arena, Eubank Jr explained his choice of clothing. "They're an awesome brand," he told talkSPORT after the press conference.
"I ate KFC in my build-up towards the Conor fight and I made weight, so when they asked me to join the team, absolutely. They're sponsoring me now, supplying me with unlimited amounts of KFC, you've got the protein in the chicken, the carbs in the beans and the fries, it's a beautiful partnership and I'm privileged to be a part of it."
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Eubank Jr was left devastated when the highly-emotional grudge match between he and Benn was cancelled due to his opponent failing a pre-fight drug test. The bout was pulled at the last minute, and he is now expecting to regroup and get himself back in world title contention at middleweight with a victory over former world champion Smith.
"It was a huge, huge disappointment not just for me but for boxing and all of the fans," he said of the fight cancellation. "That is the saddest part about that whole thing. But in fact it gives me more of a motivation because the fact that didn't happen makes me think 'I need to fight, I need to be active'.
"Listen, I can't let these things keep happening with these fights falling through and not happening. I'm just wasting time and I can't do that. That's why this fight is happening early next year, because I want to fight again in the summer and in the winter; three times."
