Slater: McDonagh v Eubank proves Irish fighters will benefit from Assassin-Sauerland relationship

Victory for JJ McDonagh against known name Chris Eubank Jr on the George Groves vs Callum Smith World Boxing Super Series undercard in Saudi Arabia could give Irish boxing another star from nowhere.

However, if the Mullingar man fails to pull of the upset their could still be some much needed positives for the sport outside of a booming Belfast.

When telling Irish-boxing.com how the fight was made Conor Slater revealed Assassin Promotions, who look after Irish talent like Ray Moylette, Darren Cruise, Victor Rabei, Vladimir Belujsky among others, have developed a relationship with the Sauerlands.

Saureland Promotions have been one of the biggest names in German boxing over the last few decades.

Currently Nisse Sauerland runs the German operations while brother Kalle has branched out and is the chief boxing officer for the WBSS tournament, which Mike Perez fought in last year and provides Ryan Burnett with the chance to become unified bantamweight champion of the world this season.

Having a positive working relationship with such an established company secured JJ McDonagh the biggest fight of his career and could provide other fighters in the stable with similar opportunities.

The link up isn’t official like the deal with Murphys Boxing, which Assassin are confident will open American avenues for their stable, but it’s a working relationship that will prove beneficial predicts Conor Slater.

“We’ve been working quite closely with the team at Sauerlands. Been constantly throwing ideas across to one and other about fights we can make in Ireland between our guys and there guys, some fights we can make over in Germany for our guys, and more significantly, how we can assist with undercards for WBSS.

“I think this is the beginning of what could be a great relationship between ourselves and the Sauerlands,” he explained to Irish-Boxing.com. 

“We’ve just made a fight with our lad Sam Jones 6-1, against one of their prospects over in Norway, so the opportunity for our lads on their big events are ever growing,” he added before revealing a number of Assassin promotion fighters would have populated the undercard of Ryan Burnett versus Nonito Donaire WBSS quarter-final if the fight as first planned had have gone ahead in Belfast. 

“There was a number of our guys we were going to put on a Burnett bill in Belfast, and a couple of 50/50 matches we could contribute to at there other shows.”

Indeed, Sauerlands were looking to put McDonagh on the Groves Smith undercard in what was rumoured to be an all Irish fight before he got the chance to fight Eubank Jr. 

“In August we got the chance to go on the Saudi Arabia show with JJ, and a couple of opponents pulled out. We were left with the situation of not looking like we were going to fight on the card. Then about three weeks ago I got a call from them, and the second I heard Eubank’s name I said yes. The deal was tied up fairly soon.”