Chris explains why he didn't fight in Vegas

[coghaugen11]

Chris 'English' Eubanks truth bombs on boxing and life


By Dee Boulton


Chris Eubank The Original, or 'English', allows us to delve into the mind of one of the most fascinating individuals to ever don a pair of 8oz boxing gloves.

Don King described him as 'the most intelligent fighter I ever met.'

Emanuel Steward described him as 'the fighter I didn't want my fighters to fight', citing a 'kind of very rare combination of being hard to really hit, hard hitting himself and able to take a hard hit.'

Joe Calzaghe often describes his fight with Eubank in 1997 as the toughest of his whole career.

'English' drops bombs of wisdom for boxing fans and seems to detail the importance of a strong moral outlook.



Do you regret not fighting in Las Vegas in your career?

Sr: Of course not. My career went the way it did. You can't plan boxing, you ride boxing. And if you can do that and remain calm and true, you can get to the crest of a high wave.

I didn't have the ego for Sin City when I was boxing. Sun City most certainly, being the soil of my idol Mandela - truth, integrity, dignity. Not ego. Bringing money and interest to South Africa. Any way I can help, I'm going to.

There was nobody in the States to drum up a fight enough for me to earn more money than I would fighting Benn at Old Trafford or pay-per-view in Germany or signing the Sky deal.

I'd much rather smoke cigars, play poker and admire beautiful ladies out there, which I couldn't do when I was a boxer.



What are your thoughts on that fight with Graciano on his home soil?

Germany was a chance for me to make a political statement. To go to Vegas and fight a tall, pure boxing, top level southpaw in Michael Nunn was really meaningless, but for ego. If I won, I get all the glory and the money and the fame in the land of opportunity, which I'm not actually interested in at the core of me, I'm really not - the belts are leather and metal, the money is paper or digits on a screen. What does it mean?

27 years - that means something, and to come out and remain on the same path; I don't have words. That's not glorifying yourself or enjoying material, that's just integrity. Mandela.

In the Yorkville section of Manhattan, which was dominated by Germans, there was a lady called Dorothy. Dorothy was a very old German-Jew who my mother cared for and who I lifted in and out of bed in her last days after running there from the South Bronx, near Yankee Stadium.

Dorothy told me that she was the only one in the neighbourhood hoping Joe Louis defeated Max Schmeling that day in 1938. But she couldn't let anybody know or she'd of been lynched. She was the one of all her fellow Germans in the neighbourhood welcoming of the black race, because she saw no colour; only good and evil. That always stuck with me.

So me posturing where the Berlin Wall stood in publicity shoots for the German media before the Graciano Rocchigiani fight, while dressed like an aristocrat and being a black Englishman, was not for ego as it may of appeared; it was in fact a political statement I was able to make by choosing to fight in Germany over the sinning Strip of Las Vegas. I wasn't just a role model, I was a Saint!

I suggested part of the Berlin Wall be donated to Mandela in South Africa, and later that year it was.



Did the constant hate thrown your way not effect you?

Nobody throws stones at trees that do not bear fruit. However it is not the critic that counts, it is the man in the arena whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly.

The greats dared to be great. They absorbed critique, pain, suffering and rather than stop or cower away in a corner they stood tall and carried on until they actually got respect and could walk away with their head high and have no need or reason or ego to come back for a second taste.

That's basically how it works. Great - even in business, life, sport, gladiating, education, anything; you just don't give up. That's how you win. Be it a belt, a job interview, a contest, or the hearts of people. Get up and dare to be great.

In gladiating, I got up and walked in and threw the fateful punch against Michael Watson that changed boxing. I dared to be great. In business, I attempted to create the new and improved Las Vegas in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. I dared to be great.

Risk must be taken, for without risk you cannot grow. Ordinary is existing. Ordinary is death. One has to behave extraordinary to be extraordinary.

At the Golden Gloves, I remember almost despising all the other fighters gathering around Thomas Hearns, queuing up to see him. I stayed back, and that's when I knew I was exceptional and the others were not. I behaved it.

I believed then I would one day be exceptional like Thomas Hearns, if I continued to behave exceptional. That's me putting him on more of a pedestal than they did, by using him as inspiration to be exceptional.

I was the first man to bring boxing to the Middle East - nobody had ever conceived it before, but I had that foresight, and so opened the floodgates for Anthony Joshua to earn the money he made. And I'm pleased for him.

AJ asked me once: 'How do you become great - give me some tips.' I said jump in from a speeding bullet to save a child. Suicide. You can't look or search for it, you either are or you're not and when opportunity presents itself you dare. I said use your platform to portray goodness.

There is footage of me with AJ after one of his fights, walking back to the dressing room, and my advise was this: 'Get back in the gym on Monday morning.' He laughed it off, even thought I was joking. That's why I called it that Ruiz could cause an upset. Like I said, you ride boxing - you don't plan it. AJ is learning.



How do you rate yourself among the other super-middleweights in the divisions history?

I did my 10,000 hours. So there's nothing I couldn't do in the ring. That's 10K without wasting perspiration mind you. But when it comes to a young Roy Jones, that's alien ability that can't be trained. The hand speed of a featherweight at super-middleweight and never needing to jab to find range? Please!

When it comes to Watson in the Watson II fight, to have more physical strength than a lean heavyweight in Carl Thompson and keep up the the pace of a featherweight, while going through moves he had never shown before; you can't win against that, that's a 10+ on a scale of 1 to 10 and so you just give up and take your beating.

To do the impossible, that's legendary; Steve Collins in the second fight against me. You had one operator with all the moves down to a tee, every punch in the book down to a tee; a master so good he showboats his way through most fights. And you have the other operator who is as ungainly as anything you've seen on the street or in a bar, fighting with such reckless abandon that the referee is considering stopping the fight to call for a mental health assessment.

The impossible; it's inspirational. Imagine, imagine.



Was the Benn fight in 1990, recently declared the greatest fight on British soil in boxing history by Boxing News - the world's oldest boxing publication - your best ever performance?

Oh, absolutely. That was my Everest. From the age of 16, when I first started boxing, my thing always was: don't get knocked out. Nothing had ever kept me down. The highest mountain was the world championship. I had to put in my 10,000 hours.

Benn was the biggest puncher on God's green earth, pound-for-pound. When he hit men, they stayed hit, or their shoulder blades would bounce off the canvas. Little old me from London tower blocks and lock-ups dared to stand in front of him without a high guard.

I had done my 10,000 hours, so I won. It was Benn or the German as my best performance - rarely was I poetry in motion for 12 rounds straight but I was that night in Germany because he didn't bust all my organs, bruise all my ribs or wind me three times like Benn did, and because I rated him 10 out of 10 for being tall, unbeaten, a southpaw and proven at the highest level, and so trained for eight weeks with that number in mind; in other words, 100% intensity.

Benn I rated a 10 because his power and aggression was second to none. Roy Jones in his prime would've been closest to being rated a 10+ going in.

[TheLeprechaun]

I have to admit, I like these Eubank chronicles. Hes generally got insightful comments.

I do get the feeling that he would have no issue sitting down in a park and talking to a tree about his life and career for several hours.

[My Name Is Earl]

I have to admit, I like these Eubank chronicles. Hes generally got insightful comments.

I do get the feeling that he would have no issue sitting down in a park and talking to a tree about his life and career for several hours.

I have him walking slowly around the tree, tips of his fingers clasped together in front of his nose, doing some random shadow boxing.

Enjoy reading it though.

[Noxy]

Eubank - top value as always

[dookus]

He’s a pompous bugger but interesting

Eubank in a nutshell!

[Deserter]

I was the first man to bring boxing to the Middle East - nobody had ever conceived it before, but I had that foresight, and so opened the floodgates for Anthony Joshua to earn the money he made. And I'm pleased for him

Even by Eubank's standards that is a quite remarkable stretching of the truth. The idea that him fighting in front a few hundred people in Dubai Tennis Stadium over 20 years ago somehow paved the way for AJ's mega-deal in Saudi is absolutely laughable.

[Counter-puncher]

So me posturing where the Berlin Wall stood in publicity shoots for the German media before the Graciano Rocchigiani fight, while dressed like an aristocrat and being a black Englishman, was not for ego as it may of appeared; it was in fact a political statement I was able to make by choosing to fight in Germany over the sinning Strip of Las Vegas. I wasn't just a role model, I was a Saint!

I suggested part of the Berlin Wall be donated to Mandela in South Africa, and later that year it was.

it's like Black Alan Partridge on drugs, brilliant stuff

[Coco]

Always interesting, even when he is talking nonsense!

And even when he is talking nonsense you have to respect it because he has been there and done it.

[THEBUTCH]

For the most part the Las Vegas crowd would not have enjoyed a lot of his dull fights.

Yep, getting an absolute gift of a decision over the unknown Dan Schommer in Sun city would have been ten times better for him than getting skinned by Michael Nunn in Sin city.

For someone of such supposed intelligence he gets his "warrior's code" mixed up an awful lot !

[coghaugen11]

Nunn was a feather dusting spoiler though, wasn't he. Mastered backwards running and moonwalking in the ring.

[margaret thatcher]

It was weird on here recently when some people were treating Nunn like he was some atg super middle, did people actually follow his career at that weight

[margaret thatcher]

Speaking of Nunn, on BoxRec he's scheduled for a kickboxing match with MMA 'legend' Pat Militech

[THEBUTCH]

For my money Nunn, at middleweight, was the number 1 in the world

Until the KO by Toney, Nunn was handling him well too and Toney never went near a rematch.

For a light puncher he gave Frank Tate a pretty bad beating and iced the very tough Kalambay with a cracking punch.

Beat up our Crawford Ashley, who wasn't a push over.

[margaret thatcher]

Ya, he was better at 160

Craw was nothing much at world level tbh, won 3 of 6 euro title fights, he was decent at that level but not higher

[coghaugen11]

Nunn looked almost invincible until he sniffed his career away. Front cover of Sports Illustrated with Mr T and partied with Michael J Fox who attended all his fights

[coghaugen11]

Supposed to be the new Ray Leonard, the darling, had the smile but zero personality -

[MasterG]

People paid to see Eubank get beat. I certainly did twice but it didn't happened. Eubank was an enigma he brought entertainment to the fight game but I don't think many people I wanted him to win fights. He certainly dodged the very best super middleweights but that was pure financial. I don't think he could have beaten Roy Jones Jr or or James toney or even Michael Nunn. I think Nigel Benn would have had a better opportunity in beating Jones, Toney and Michael Nunn as Nigel Benn was more of a warrior done an opportunist.

[coghaugen11]

Benn had a better shot at Jones and Nunn if he just went all out throwing bombs. Toney demolishes him. Styles

Eubank had a decent shot at out pointing Toney, if Toney failed to read that stiff jab of Eubank (would grind him down) to avoid and counter. Chris had no chance of beating Nunn or Jones near their bests on points, styles

[THEBUTCH]

Can anyone name one top American that Eubank went in with ?

Nope, I thought not !

[coghaugen11]

What does nationality mean though. Rocky beat Nunn, Collins beat Reggie, Calzaghe beat Hopkins and Benn beat McClellan

[THEBUTCH]

It's more to do with the fact that at that time the top Americans were the guys to beat in the middleweight division and there were a few of them knocking about.

The Rocchigiani win does stand out, but could have so easily gone the other way. Surprising when you think it was in Germany.

Nigel Benn will forever hold an ace over Eubank for stepping in the ring with McClennan.

[coghaugen11]

Yet Eubank beat Benn. Eubank has said at after-dinners that Roy Jones and James Toney didn't want to fight him when he made his comeback in 96, so he settled for Calzaghe and Thompson at cruiser to win respect

I thought Eubank was a clear winner against Rocky, who then was robbed against Maske and Michalczewski

[coghaugen11]

Collins beat Reggie

Arguably.

[coghaugen11]

I thought Reggie beat Toney with the KD and that Eubank was robbed v Collins at Millstreet when the KD in round two wasn't counted [all three judges scored that round to Collins 10-9 when it should've been 10-8 to Eubank]

[coghaugen11]

I was the first man to bring boxing to the Middle East - nobody had ever conceived it before, but I had that foresight, and so opened the floodgates for Anthony Joshua to earn the money he made. And I'm pleased for him

Even by Eubank's standards that is a quite remarkable stretching of the truth. The idea that him fighting in front a few hundred people in Dubai Tennis Stadium over 20 years ago somehow paved the way for AJ's mega-deal in Saudi is absolutely laughable.

EGYPT 96, in front of the Sheikhs promoting his own show