Harlem Eubank marked his return after a 378-day layoff with a scrappy decision victory over eight rounds against former French divisional champion Nurali Erdogan at welterweight, improving to 20-0 before insisting 2025 will be a big year after his proposed Adam Azim clash fell through over the summer months.
Harlem has to settle for a bittersweet return up North
79-70, 77-73, 77-72: Harlem Eubank bt. Nurali Erdogan via UD8, now at 20-0
- All about perspective! Eubank post-fight: “He just wanted to tie up, it was a tricky style and very frustrating but I’m happy, got the cleaner punches in up close… grabbing made it difficult but I got the cleaner work in and outside. We’re ready for a big year ahead, excited for what’s next. It [the cut near his right eye] will heal up in a few weeks, we’ll be back to business.”
- Straight-talking… Eubank’s co-promoter Nisse Sauerland didn’t mince words on Erdogan before looking ahead to raising the opposition levels for an ambitious Harlem: “You need to win, Harlem did but Erdogan was an awful opponent, lot of holding, he belongs in an MMA ring. We’re working on opponents, it’ll be a big name and a step-up, something to look forward to.”
- Referee Ron Kearney deducted points from both: Erdogan in the sixth, both had one taken off in the final stanza of a drab affair – returning hometown hero Cyrus Pattinson stole the show as he won a six-round decision vs. Andrei Antonov after Channel 5’s TV broadcast went off-air
HARLEM Eubank didn’t have the Newcastle crowd off their seats much, but more importantly got the job done against Nurali Erdogan with a workmanlike display over eight rounds in a successful welterweight return after six years campaigning at light-welterweight without ever managing to make the vaunted step to world level.
A matchup against former European champion Adam Azim (12-0, 9 KOs) was all-but-set with Sky Sports and BOXXER before factors outside his control saw the phone go silent earlier this year and rather than wait, the Brighton man opted for a stay-busy bout after agreeing a multi-fight deal returning to Wasserman in September.
October 25 was the original date, moved back another month and it’s no surprise to hear he was buzzing around the fighter hotel like an excited child on their birthday, eager to make up for lost time in a similar manner to his older cousin Chris, who boasts the star attraction and intrigue this former football wishes to one day match.
While it’s easy to dismiss this as banishing ring rust after a long layoff, we still don’t know where Harlem stands as far as world-level contention. Couple that with now moving to welterweight, a deceptively difficult division among the elite, you have an established guy with a famous surname people will gravitate towards.
Yet bouts like these, his R11 TKO win over Timo Schwarzkopf and UD10 win against Miguel Antin just exemplify examples he must take care to learn from under coach Charlie Beatt, too many preventable tendencies that will be exposed against sharper boxers who pose more punching power and purpose in their work.
He should’ve been deducted a point much earlier and got away with one being patiently marshalled by referee Ron Kearney, who didn’t afford Erdogan the same leash. This piece could’ve been written with a different tone, had Harlem not been the main attraction on an evening where his stubborn opponent made it messy.
From the opening exchanges, you could sense this would be an arduous watch. “Tidy it up,” was the command from the third man in the ring and scrappy is an apt word to describe the first stanza, where Kearney read both the riot act and told Eubank in no uncertain times: “keep punching and holding, I’ll take a point off.”
Yet he didn’t, until the lead was too big to make a difference. Eubank connected on a series of body shots, making the Frenchman instinctively adjust his shorts – a telltale sign – as more rough-housing was the theme to finish another competitive round.
In the third, Harlem was warned about elbow usage when they exchanged shots in the clinch but couldn’t help himself. Erdogan by contrast, was lectured about using his head and while both swung wildly, there wasn’t much in the way of noteworthy work from either. Eubank’s jab worked well in stages, digging more work downstairs.
“Harlem needs to stay smart and stop trying to wrestle,” was the commentary’s analysis through nine minutes and they weren’t wrong. Best when operating at middle distance with some separation and a chance to chain attacks together, rather than trying to outmuscle a bigger foe, Harlem’s old habits were coming to the fore.
Erdogan connected on a stiff right, just as a background story was told on the broadcast about a coach pinpointing the left hook as Harlem’s area of defensive weakness. Eubank landed single shots at close-range but rather than denting Erdogan, it empowered him to fire back just as fiercely during another close round.
Just like the fourth, round five was another iffy stanza. Harlem absorbed a perfectly-placed left hook with 30 seconds left and, having seemingly controlled large periods of the round with movement aplenty, probably lost it in that moment. Arguably 3-2 either way, the resulting wide scorecards don’t tell the full story.
Into the sixth, Erdogan got what appeared to be a final warning from a beleaguered Kearnley before stinging Harlem with the left hook again.
Just as quickly as you might think the favourite would need to increase his intermittent attacks, the official had seen enough and stopped them in centre ring to deduct a point, gesticulating excessive holding and pushing by the visitor. If this scrappy showdown was close on the scorecards prior, it no longer was.
As the penultimate round began, they took a tumble – not for the first time – as Erdogan’s complaints fell on deaf ears, knowing he needed to push the pace more than before as the scorecards certainly wouldn’t have been in his favour by this stage.
After some disguised body punching, he landed another good left hook buzzing Harlem before the 30-year-old dodged a wild haymaker in the corner late.
Harlem sported a cut around his eye as the round ended after an accidental clash of heads – exactly the opposite of what he would’ve wanted, given his inactive year prior.
Erdogan started the eighth by targeting the cut upclose, the referee kept busy and while his interventions were needed, just made this more of a stop-start affair that suited neither man’s rhythm.
The 27-year-old was deducted another point for wrestling, looking dumbfounded at the perceived double standards, while Eubank’s opportunity to finish strong – worsening cut aside – fell by the wayside as he too lost a point after leading with his head in the final seconds of a bout that never really ignited.
Erdogan was visibly unhappy and made everyone close enough aware of such, but the Frenchman could only look inwardly after a patchy showing on this occasion. 77-73 felt the fairest scorecard from the trio of ringside judges in an encounter many will point to as evidence that Harlem’s ceiling is lower than first thought.
Picture source: Getty, quotes via Channel 5 broadcast
Mo and Sports 