Chris Eubank Sr says fighters should never quit a fight

[Ruthless-RKO]

Chris Eubank Sr says it is not in the "warrior's code" for a boxer to stop a fight and only a referee should bring about the end of a bout.

His son, Chris Eubank Jr, defends his IBO super middleweight world title against Arthur Abraham at Wembley Arena on Saturday.

"Can you take a beating? When you have, bow and accept it like a gentleman," Eubank Sr, 50, told BBC Radio 5 live.

"That is the cut of the man you want your own son to be."

Eubank Jr recently criticised ex-IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook after the Sheffield fighter took a knee to end his fight with American Errol Spence in the 11th round.

Brook said he feared a "fatal" blow after suffering his second broke eye socket in consecutive fights.

Eubank Sr's 1991 rematch win over Michael Watson saw the beaten fighter spend eight months unable to hear, speak, or walk. Watson - close to death - underwent six brain operations in 40 days, yet that fight is still championed to this day.

When his son fought for the British title in 2016, the defending champion Nick Blackwell held on until the 10th round. But the Trowbridge fighter suffered bleeding on the skull and spent the next week in an induced coma and was forced to retire from the sport, aged 25.

Speaking about Brook losing his title by stopping his fight, Eubank Sr said "do not at any point think that a black eye is a reason to quit".

He told BBC Sport's boxing correspondent Mike Costello: "The reason Rocky resonated to the world is because going beyond the point of duty and taking punishment inspires people.

"It shows the nature of the human condition and shows how wonderful, brave and magnificent we are.

"We have nothing against Kell Brook but standards have to be kept. We are fierce in this regard, and why shouldn't we be? This is a privilege, signing things, pictures. You can't earn that by quitting. It isn't really about the belts, it's about the hearts of the people.

"We say if you held on longer you would have won something that money just cannot buy."

"What is feeling sorry for fighters because they are hurt? You're supposed to be hurt, you're supposed to be injured," said Eubank Sr. "I want Junior to experience the same magic I live with everyday.

"When a man goes down you don't have the right to quit. That's not in the rule book of the warrior's code. It's for the referee. You have to take a beating. That sounds odd because of what has happened to fighters who have fallen but it is still this code.

"We can't be normal. We are not allowed. I've been in fights where I wanted to wet myself the beating was so bad. But I had no choice because integrity doesn't allow.

"When Watson knocked me down in that second fight in the 11th round I didn't think about getting up, I had to get up. It's almost like subconsciously I knew that in three or four days I'd be washing myself in the mirror and I'd look myself in the eye and say 'you could have got up and you didn't'."

[sweetscience]

i like his attitude towards winning

nothing worse than medals for coming last

[Finn]

To be fair he's lived by that code so I have no issue with him having that opinion.

You should only quit if you are genuinely worried for your health or if you've got to the end of your career and think you had enough and intend on retiring once you've bowed out in the ring.

[ILikeBeer]

To be fair he's lived by that code so I have no issue with him having that opinion.

You should only quit if you are genuinely worried for your health or if you've got to the end of your career and think you had enough and intend on retiring once you've bowed out in the ring.

Surely, Brook was genuinely worried about his health?

[ILikeBeer]

More waffle from Eubank.

Being that Jr. quit the GGG fight at the contract signing stage, they can't really say anything about what Brook did against him.

[Noxy]

To be fair to him, you need to think like that if you want to succeed in boxing. At the same time, it doesn't mean a fighter is bad because they quit. 'No mas' being one example. Duran was no bottle job, he just quit once (for whatever reason).

[Ossyrules]

It's a strong mentality to have in a way. As if it comes down to it in a real war, the guy who can't contemplate quitting, won't quit before a guy whose worried about injury.

However in the real world, quitting to protect a significant, possibly life changing injury etc is completely acceptable.

I'm surprised that eubank pushes this ethos out when an opponent of his son had a career ending injury, certainly life changing. It hasn't done Blackwell much good he wouldn't quit despite enduring punishment. He's now denied possible future bigger pay days than he ever had, or the glory of fighting on bigger cards, venues, opponents etc

It's all speculation but quits like Ohara Davies, on face value appeared weak. You can't be like that in boxing. Kell brook situation appeared much more significant to his future.

This isn't about supporting an "everyone gets a medal" situation. Do everything you can to win for sure, but for me... at all costs? These guys shouldnt have to risk brain injury, or blindness to get a win etc

[REEVE]

Just my personal opinion but if I'm not unconscious or snapped in half on the floor from a body shot there is no way I'd quit ever

[littlepug]

Spot on fron eubank, too many wet lettuces trying to make boxing "civillised" for my liking

[Boxerbeetle]

Shame Eubank Sr couldn't show enough bravery to face the top US fighters of the day.

[Ossyrules]

Shame Eubank Sr couldn't show enough bravery to face the top US fighters of the day.

Or junior for ggg

[Nightmare Roy]

To be fair to him, you need to think like that if you want to succeed in boxing. At the same time, it doesn't mean a fighter is bad because they quit. 'No mas' being one example. Duran was no bottle job, he just quit once (for whatever reason).

I think Duran quit because Sugar Ray wouldn't stand and fight and was acting like a clown and he just thought fcuk this.

[PredatorHayds]

Agree with Senior here. And to be fair he took a beating late on in his career and didn't look for a way out.

Hopefully Senior can find a quiet place in the youth hostel he's staying in and write the rules of the warriors code.

All jokes aside I'd love to read his viewpoint on the sweet science.

[ILikeBeer]

Surely you people aren't taking this shit seriously?

Eubank encouraged his son to quit the fight during the contract signing process. Then got brave on Twitter when Kell Brook had a potentially career threatening injury.

It's all well and good criticising a fighter's courage, but when you ducked the fighter he just lost to?

[crusader]

'Never' is too strong for me

There are often fights in which it is very apparent that one competitor is taking a beating and lacks the tools to realistically turn it around. In these types of bouts the chances that the punishment will have an adverse, long term impact often seem greater than the chances of a hail Mary KO or some freak ending in their favour, so I wouldn't say that continuing to fight is a better choice than quitting.

So you ended up getting KTFO, but people can't say you quit; congrats!

[Finn]

To be fair he's lived by that code so I have no issue with him having that opinion.

You should only quit if you are genuinely worried for your health or if you've got to the end of your career and think you had enough and intend on retiring once you've bowed out in the ring.

Surely, Brook was genuinely worried about his health?

If he was then fair enough but to me it looked like he quit because he was being beat. He wouldn't have pulled out if was winning.

[Ruthless-RKO]

To be fair he's lived by that code so I have no issue with him having that opinion.

You should only quit if you are genuinely worried for your health or if you've got to the end of your career and think you had enough and intend on retiring once you've bowed out in the ring.

Surely, Brook was genuinely worried about his health?

If he was then fair enough but to me it looked like he quit because he was being beat. He wouldn't have pulled out if was winning.

You make a good point, the last 3 rounds he lost before the stoppage, then he a 10-8 round.. He knew if he didn't stop at that point, Spence would have stopped it.

[gilgamesh]

If you have a corner that you trust truly cares about you and won't let you get hurt then yeah you probably shouldn't quit, but sometimes that's not the case. They'll keep sending you out for another round and unless you take it upon yourself to stop you're gonna get f*cking hurt in there. Warrior's Code or not, this sh*t ain't worth risking your long term health. I'd much rather see a guy quit early than be injured so seriously he never recovers.

[MightyWarrior]

Tell that to Michael Watson and Gerald McClellan, idiot.

[littlepug]

some people are missing the point, its not the fans that sets the standard for bravery/heart, the bar is already set high by the fighters themselves, they have shown us countless times how far they are prepared to go for victory, they have shown us whats possible and anything less will be criticised and that's just the way it is

[banjo]

And risk ending up a vegetable who can't wipe their own arse? He spoke shite when he was fighting, still does now. Bare in mind this is a man who never stepped up against a top class fighter.

[TheLeprechaun]

If you know anything about Eubank Sr then you will know that he's the one person who you can't criticize for saying something like this. Nobody is afforded higher respect in boxing circles in terms of respect as a warrior than Eubank Sr. He earned that the hard way.

[tobyh5]

Tell that to Michael Watson and Gerald McClellan, idiot.

This :

Although we love the guys who go above and beyond, there is a life outside of the ring. Tell some girl who has lost her daddy or has to wipe his arse and mop up his dribble all about this warrior code because I am sure living with the repercussions 24/7 is not fun and carries on long after the fans have moved on to the next event.

[Ossyrules]

Nice to see some sense filtering into this thread

[stujones]

I would agree with Eubank personally, however I think in situations where the fight has become unwinnable, for whatever reason, then it is acceptable to quit.

For example, DLH vs Pacquiao - it was clear as early as the 2nd round that it wasn't in the tank for DLH and he took a sustained beating. I think that was not a disgrace that he quit. Whereas I felt Ohara had buzzed Taylor on occassion and was still in the fight.