British legend Chris Eubank on Benn, Watson, Collins, Calzaghe, RJJ, Tyson, Hopkins-Winky and much more!
19.07.07 - By Simon Henley: Chris Eubank, in the early to mid 1990s, was one of the most famous and wealthiest sportsmen in Britain, residing on the same cloud as Nick Faldo, Nigel Mansell, Lester Piggott, Linford Christie and Paul Gascoigne.
You could also call him a genuine a-list celebrity of the time- it was not the norm for any celebrity to appear on Wogan twice in the same year or Tonight With Jonathan Ross five times in 12 months.
Anybody who ever saw a Eubank ring entrance will never forget it for the rest of their lives- swaggering down the aisle, prowling the ring apron and, ofcourse, vaulting over the top-rope and into the ring, all done to Tina Turner's 'Simply the Best' anthem and all in his own time, no rush. There was an arrogance and smugness in his face, and an aura about him that surpassed even Tyson. The hairs on the back of your neck stood up!
Behind the mask was psychological scars. He'd been bullied hideously by his older brothers growing up, which caused him to become obsessed with protecting other kids from bullies and through constantly fighting/protecting was moved from school to school, institution to institution, until escaping.
At 16, Chris Eubank was a mess- smoking, drinking, taking dope, shoplifting and burglary were a way of life. He'd been absconding since he was 14, mostly on the back seats of cars, before jumping bail to board a plane to New York on the insistence of his dad, where he would live with his mom in The Bronx.
"After 10, 12 days I wanted to go home. It (The Bronx) was more than a jungle- it was dirty and dangerous. I wouldn't steal over there because I could be shot. So my subsconscious led me to a boxing gym, where I got a job as a janitor. It was the Jerome gym in The Bronx.
"What my subconscious wanted was acceptance. My brothers were boxers back in England, my subconscious caused me to box."
One thing led to another, and he was fighting Nigel Benn, "the ultimate bully", for the world title, "legally".
He was the first sportsman to sign a major contract with ITV, when he put pen to paper on a £1m-a-year deal (excluding purses) in December 1990.
In June 1994, he was the first person to sign a major contract with Sky Sports, signing a 12-month £10m ($20m) deal for a 'world tour' of eight fights.
In October 1995 Eubank announced his retirement from the sport (after the Sky deal fell to pieces and suffering a double loss to Steve Collins), only to make a comeback a year later when he became the first person to bring professional boxing to the Middle East, promoting his own shows.
He's yet to fight since July 1998.
The man himself was on hand to show youngsters some moves on Tuesday at the Peacock Gym, one looping right-hander away from Canning Town station, and answer questions about his career (mostly from adults). I recorded everything said and thought you'd be interested in some of the quotes!
What was fighting Nigel Benn like?
"Fighting Nigel Benn was the ultimate challenge of a man's courage. There's nobody more intimidating, nobody more fierce, and pound-for-pound nobody dishes blows as hard at middleweight.
"The real courage comes during the fight because not only did your actual soul seem to shudder at the point of full impact of a Benn blow, but it was a lucid, lingering blow and every bone in your body would be in cold frission for a few seconds.
"What made it all the more devastating was that he was lightning with the blow- you didn't even have a chance to begin to move to evade in any way. It was 'straight forward bang', feeling a kind of strength- a handcuff-breaking strength, that kind of strength.
"Knowing that, and knowing that you were going to be hit like that again, and again, and again - that is courage my good friend. He beat me within inches of my life and so I had had to beat him within inches of his life to beat him."
When was he at his peak?
"I was a novice! *tries not to smile* I only first started boxing just seven or so years before I became champion of the world, which is top of the tier. My frame of mind was to constantly improve- to stay on top and make my money.
"If a fight wasn't announced, I was training because training is winning. And I only fought to win, everything else and everyone else was subjective.
"I only ever took a day off after a 12-round fight, and I always finished sparring the day before the fight because the objective was to constantly improve.
"The other reason I liked to finish the sparring the day before the fight was a matter of immunity, which helps you absorb blows. Let me explain this to you quickly- when you haven't sparred for a week, the first day back is very painful.
"I can only imagine how painful it must have been for guys who didn't have the courage or discipline or the application to spar regularly, guys who would take weeks or months off of contact.
"The first day back in contact I would take a lot of jabs on the forehead which would bruise for about two days. You can't wait for the bruising to subside- the point of the exercise was to work through that damage to develop immunity.
"That was my method and one of the reasons I wouldn't finish sparring until the day prior to the fight itself- like I said- to maintain immunity.
"OK, I'd say by the time 1990 was on the scene I probably knew everything there was to know about the art and craft. I was a grandmaster.
"I hadn't just trained each day since I first began boxing, I'd trained correctly each day since I first began boxing and always to the point of exhaustion. But that didn't mean I couldn't improve the frugality in executing the moves, that didn't mean I couldn't imprint more so certain geometries to my subconscious."
"People don't realise that I was disabled throughout my career! *tries not to smile* By that I mean my genetics were too good!
"Let me just say this- boxing is the best exercise there is because you work all the muscles of the body.
"After the Benn fight, I needed to take three weeks off to recover from the abyss Benn had tried to punch me into. My muscles got a chance to recuperate for the first time in seven or so years.
"After the second Watson fight, I needed to take four weeks off to recover from the abyss Michael had tried to punch me into.
"I had no more than a day off after a world title fight, apart from those two.
"So that was the second time my muscles got a chance to recuperate. So what I was carrying by then was 20 lbs. of unwanted muscle and that having never touched a weight in my life. So stretching became the staple of my training- in front of boxing! That hinders you.
"But I constantly improved upon in every line of approach, even if in a gradual sense, and when you constantly improve upon in every line of approach it opens up new avenues to understanding.
"Are you with me?"
Nobody was.
"At the time of the second (Steve) Collins fight, most of my fighting mechanisms were so well-oiled at that point. I was in my physical peak for that fight. The only reason Collins beat me that night was because, that night, he was absolutely mental, nutty!"
He recalled a picture that he hadn't been able to get out of his head of Collins getting through the ropes with his feet off the ground, ie literally flying though the air to start the fight.
"The guy was crying tears of anger, snorting like a bull on his way to the ring.
"In essence, I was, for the first time, totally unnerved, I had never had my mental composure broken in that way before. I probably won one round in all.
"He seemed nervy in all the press conferences leading up to the fight, which was purposeful so as he could break my false sense of security with his resolve on the night.
"If he showed that resolve in the press conferences beforehand, there would have been nothing to break, and I'd have stood him on his head."
He was then asked about the infamous hypnotist claims of Collins that seemed to spook Eubank before their first fight and if that's why he lost for the first time.
"It's a myth. The sole reason I lost in Millstreet was because for the first time I went out to hurt my opponent. That's the reason."
"He (Steve Collins) purposefully made me instantly hate him six weeks prior (to first fight), with those well-documented racist remarks.
"If you hate your opponent, you've lost before the first bell has rung because it takes your mind off the subject matter which is to box, to box well, to inspire the judges, and puts it onto something else, which is the opponent himself. But it was an underhand way to win, where there's no integrity in that.
"You could say my subconscious would not move in to strike with severe venom when I put him down in that 10th round, because in claiming he was hypnotised and wouldn't feel the punches had brought back Michael Watson to my subconscious.
"But without the racism in the first place, there wouldn't be that situation because I'd have played with him, cut his eyes and broke his body up and (would have) had him swinging for ghosts."
He was asked about Joe Calzaghe.
"Calzaghe had no real aura about him. So I under-estimated him quite abit, and I guess it was the same for that American kid (Jeff Lacy?).
(He went back to Nigel Benn)
"I was superior to Benn because he was imprudent. He was fierce, intimidating, which was his natural self. I was superior because to appear fierce is stupid because you're telling me who you are. To be as ferocious as you are, and to let me know, is stupid."
"Calzaghe hit very hard, had awkward foot and hand work, an awkward southpaw stance and his hands seemed to be working in fast motion at times.
"Obviously, losing 20 lbs. in seven days wasn't easy, but I thought it could be easier than drying out 10 or 15 lbs. in the last two or three days like per usual. I was wrong. In that week of sparring for Calzaghe, what I had was no strength and no snap, and the key is this: if you aren't doing it in the gym, you aren't doing it in the ring.
"Just like Sun City three years prior- I had three weeks to get down from 189 to 168 over there, but I had to acclimatise more than I thought and I physically could not make the sparring intense and neither could Ray Webb the spar partner.
"(So) Schommer was able to see my attacks, pick me off and make me look cumbersome. There's no way I won that (Schommer) fight, (that is) the only fight I believe I lost despite the decision going my way. I only won because of a matter of politics, namely the fight was fixed."
"Pretty much all of my fights were fixed if we're honest, that's boxing. But the only decision I didn't deserve (out of the controversial ones), if I was judging the fights, was the Schommer one."
"It was an awkward nights work (against Calzaghe). I couldn't use multi-directional foot movements because my knee was gone, so he was always on-balance. But Joe would have always been awkward to get to grips with and is very skilled with it, with a strong chin and big heart to boot. But I do think I'd have got him out of there if I had longer to prepare."
"The main difference between me and Calzaghe is that I carried the belt, whereas the belt carried Calzaghe."
And Roy Jones, Jr.
"Technically it would have been very, very close. He was a more concussive puncher, was tremendously fast and he had better strength than me. But he couldn't hit me as hard as Nigel Benn did, couldn't avoid a glove as well as Herol Graham and couldn't have the strength Michael Watson had in our second fight.
"I had those elite experiences and Roy Jones maybe didn't, and I know I'd have ended the kids career, maybe not literally but in essence and by that I mean physically."
"No, no, not likely I would have won that one. That kid Roy Jones had the ability to end my life, in my opinion."
"The reason I didn't take that fight was not that he had the ability to end me, but that he had the ability to beat me. My only objective was to win, so I didn't fight Jones."
Eubank was thee hate-figure in his pomp. It seemed everyone wanted to see him lose. He was asked if he milked it with all his posing.
"In accordance of my fighting stances, and posturing, the media found it very easy to make me out to be the bad fellow. But it wasn't, that was just the warrior inside me. Very rarely did I pull my shoulders back, more often than not it was the warrior doing it for me.
"When I did pull my shoulders back and pull a face or dance or play, the case was this- I didn't have an eccentric persona, I had an ascetic persona, and cutting weight really took it's toll on me; I was in a bad mood for weeks on end, and all through training camp. When I got to rehydrate, I got into a euphoric state, thus setting off my personality on fight-night. My spirits were too high to lose."
"When I stood and looked at the crowd and my opponent in the way that I would sometimes, it was a mirror image of what I was feeling- I was clean, I was true to the form, I didn't drink, I didn't smoke, I didn't do drugs, I had no vices of any kind. I didn't have a vice, any vice. So I could stand there and say 'Look at me, look how clean I am, you are not beating me.'
"And I suppose that's the conviction I had in my mind that across in my postures, my stances, and I suppose the things I'd even say, y'know?"
He tells about why he would 'dry out', narrowly beating the scales (almost as narrowly as he'd beat his opponents).
"In my very first amateur fight, I was a light-middleweight (junior-middleweight) fighting a middleweight at a club in The Bronx and in the amateurs that's a 9 lb. difference.
"He put his weight behind a punch to the chest and I stuttered back and froze, I couldn't even move, because I was just so startled by the weight behind it and never forgot what a big difference just 9 lb. is in the ring. I was stopped by the referee there and then by the way."
"Obviously when you dry out, you hydrate that night and out-weigh the opponent the next day. That was it basically.
"When you felt you needed to soften the opponent up or keep him off or slow him down you'd only need to land one punch with leverage or a pivot. (Or) You could land some proper jabs in some of the early rounds and then keep him off in the middle rounds with just a simple feint with the left hand. Stuff like that. It made my life easier."
"People always said it was the wrong way to go about my business but physically it worked for me every time, including Dan Schommer- because I was too strong for him on the inside, that's why he was backing off and the judges were then able to appreciate the aggression I had, and had to have, on that occasion."
On throwing a punch.
(*constantly demonstrating*)
"People outside of the boxing fraternity do not realise what complexity is involved in throwing just one single punch.
"You don't punch from the arm or even from the shoulder. You punch from the foot.
"The wave of movement travels from the toe, through the foot, knee, hip and chest, sears up the arm, forearm, wrist and finally into the knuckles.
"Then the index knuckle and middle knuckle are the two which need to connect. These two knuckles flow from a direct line straight up your arm. The other knuckles don't have the same support, so if you connect badly with the other two you are likely to hurt your hand.
"Sometimes you connect correctly with the two correct knuckles and 'bingo', the unfortunate person struck is not vertical.
"If that is done correctly, which is hard enough, you then have to complete the proceedure, which involves getting your fist back into the correct position by your chin, your body is pulled back into form and you are ready to go again.
"If you can do that meticulously, you will have probably taken two or three years to master it- and now you know just one punch!
"This is what I was learning all those years when I was coming up. I needed all the punches in my arsenal but also needed a base to work off of.
"To get away from the conventional you must first be conventional."
"Only if the opportunity presented itself could I punch with two tonnes. I wasn't a concussive puncher."
"The only other way to punch with great power- unless you're a concussive puncher- is where you must first totally relax to gather your strength, then put all your strength and effort into hitting your target."
The coversations moved to Michael Watson.
The relationship between warring boxers is so complex it almost defies understanding by those of us who have never climbed between the ropes.
How, for instance, can Mike Tyson make odious threats about what he would like to do to Lennox Lewis and then, when the fighting is done, wipe a drop of blood from the cheek of his conqueror with the gentleness of a mother attending to her child?
And how can it be that Michael Watson and Chris Eubank will embrace in mutual respect every time they see eachother, when one of them is suffering from the effects of brain damage inflicted by the other?
"When Michael and I were in there, in the ring, we smelled each other's stench.
"I smelled his soul, his bareness and he smelled mine. That kind of thing builds a bond, a camaraderie, that you don't find in other walks of life."
Camaraderie is hardly the word that springs to mind when one considers the build-up to that fateful night. Of Eubank, Watson promised: "I'm going to dispose of him, to do the public a service."
Eubank's response was boxing hype of the basest kind. "It's a kill-or-be-killed situation."
How does Eubank reconcile that animosity with the genuine affection that exists between Watson and himself today?
"Once a fight is made all you think about is your opponent. It is not that you grow to hate him, but you know you have to beat him. It becomes a passionate thing and makes a deep impression on you.
"Then, when you are no longer competing, you mellow and you acquire the wisdom that means you don't make so much of small-minded things like animosity.
"All that is left is a realisation that you were once emotionally attached and when we meet now it is a case of 'Hey brother, I know who you are'."
Eubank is equally generous when recalling their rematch.
"I know it is in the record book that I won, but to me the most important thing is that Michael was the superior fighter that night. He was too strong for me, he was too powerful for me, he was too determined for me- everything I hit Michael with, nothing, he kept on coming.
"I probably won 10 seconds of the fight. The only reason I won the fight was because I was still standing in the twelfth round. If you are true to the warrior, regardless of how hard the fight is, you will be there."
"The main reason I won the fight is because I quit after six rounds. I'd hit him with everything and he was still coming at me with what felt like unnatural strength, it was as if Michael was hypnotised, that's how motivated he was.
"So because I quit, but stayed in there only to take my beating, got up after being knocked down only to take more punches, all as a matter of integrity only, the warrior inside decided to throw that uppercut for me because I was literally one shot away from death. That's how I won. I quit and that's the reason I won."
After the Watson tragedy, it was said by many that Eubank lost his 'killer instinct'. Eubank was also involved in a car accident in early 1992 that left a motorway worker dead. But with the relentless defense of his title he became boxing's most proficient earner during Mike Tyson's jail sentance.
"After being involved in two such brutal tragedies, all my accomplishments in the ring were meaningless.
"I drew inspiration from the inner strength Mike (Tyson) showed me in incarceration and the inner strength Michael (Watson) showed me in hospitalisation, when I would visit them.
"Without drawing that kind of strength from Mike and Michael I don't think I'd have been able to go through with as many fights.
"And without going through with so many fights I don't think I'd have coped, kind of, personally, if you like.
"It was a very difficult period for me, for boxing, for a lot of people. But Mike and Michael would inspire me with their inner strength."
Eubank was asked questions about his relationship with Tyson, some of which he refused to answer.
He was asked if it was true that they were friends when they were 16.
"It's a myth. I do recall seeing Mike on the circuit on numerous occasions from 1983 to 1986. I recall Mike being there at a Roberto Duran fight at the Madison Square Gardens when I was 16."
"Mike was a hero of mine. When my amateur career was starting, his was ending. Seeing him win the (world) title and do what he was doing, it caused me to say to myself 'He's a man and he did it, I'm a man so why can't I do it?'.
"I'd been everywhere he'd been, and him setting the bar so high helped other young boxers like myself be the best we could.
"I also used words of inspiration. Bob Marley was more inspirational to me, Marley taught me to be the best I could be."
"Mike said he remembered me because I dressed like he did and spoke like an English gentleman. We really didn't get close until I visited him in jail."
He was also asked if it was true that Tyson converted him to Islam.
"Another myth. All he said was that if you are a good Christian then you are a Muslim, because you don't harm your fellow man."
Eubank claimed to be a "craftsman who is a businessman" in his pomp. But did ever see boxing as a sport?
"At the start I did. I used to look up to Roberto Duran and Thomas Hearns like they were Gods. But years later realised how unpolished I was.
"When you notice first-hand, with your own eyes, human faces being disfigured over time, it kind of puts you off boxing as a sport. I'm just telling you what happens, you know what happens, it's contact.
"And when you witness, first-hand, innocent souls being manipulated, used, abused, and then ultimately discarded, it turns you against boxing as a sport.
"Also, when you grow as a person you realise that truth if what one should look up to, not what another man does in his trade.
"You kids can have these sporting idols, I think that's great. If you're asking me, I'd say look up to truth. I'd say look to words, to passion.
"Amateur boxing? Yes, that is sport. Professional boxing? (It's) a business. You can't really argue with what it is.
"I'll say this: Stay away from that professional game because it's dirty and dogged, but if you don't stay away from the professional game then compete to win, don't just take part."
Did Eubank pick his own opponents?
"Of course I picked my own opponents! I was the seed of power and had to win to keep up my standard of living."
Eubank explained that you shouldn't 'pull any strokes' in the ring because you'd be ashamed of yourself if you did. He recalls an incident in his amateur career.
"It was the semi-finals of the Golden Gloves and my opponent seemed to have the measure of me because he was beating me to the punch by picking me off all over the place. But the case was I didn't know how to catch the punches.
"It's all about reaction. The individual who thinks about catching a punch will get hit. By the time you see it coming, it has hit you.
"You need to see the shoulders doubling to come forward, then 'bang!', you catch it without even thinking. It is instinct gleaned through years of repetition and conditioning- I didn't have years of repetition and conditioning at that time.
"Anyway, I kept coming forward, trying to land punches, but towards the end of the third round realised there was just no way the judges could be scoring it for me and nothing I could do to win. So I bit him. I made an imprint on his shoulder with my bottom teeth when we got into a clinch, and nobody saw it.
"It was on national (US) TV and it was the Madison Square Gardens and I knew that neighbours and relatives and friends from the church were all gathered round the TV with my mom at home.
"They were mostly Jamaican, mostly female and mostly over 40 or 50 and I always had this deep-felt respect for my elders, and if they realised I'd bit another boy I'd have been in despair.
"I was praying the mark didn't show up on the TV screen or anything. I was the golden boy, you see, the good boy.
"I knew that my North American History teacher at Morris High School, Mrs Castleford- who seemed the only person who understood me- would be watching it on the TV too and I certainly didn't want to shame her. I was her pet.
"When the decision was announced, the referee raised his hand and I climbed out of that ring with my head bowed in shame, disgusted at myself. It was a horrible feeling and nothing to do with shaming other people, that feeling was that I had shamed myself.
"I promised myself there and then that I would never climb out of the ring with my head bowed in shame again.
"If I was getting beaten, I would stay there and take my beating like a man. Not react like a child. I would be true to myself. That's why I won Watson II."
On his fight with one Les Wisniewski.
"I was catching his punches as easily as catching a ball thrown by a child. That allowed me the freedom to shine. If you watch this fight, you will appreciate the dexterity and complexity of my moves and punches. You'd have never seen poetry quite like it in a boxing ring.
"I'm not being boasty or bigging myself up, get hold of the fight and see for yourself. However, although some of these moves look small and relatively simple, they are the result of all those thousands and thousands of hours of repetition in the gym.
"That deft sleight of foot is not from the roadwork, it is more the product of circling in the gym hundreds of thousands of times. The objective was to inspire the judges and people.
"But when you move up in class you don't catch punches easily like that and so you don't have that freedom to shine."
When he first started training.
"At first they taught me to punch straight out, 1-2, 1-2, load up and keep on punching, and even that took ages to master so I couldn't have been naturally talented. But I applied myself very strigently in the gymnasium."
Would he consider being a trainer?
"No chance."
"You can take a kid who has obvious natural talent, train him, coach him, guide him through the minefield that is professional boxing, work him up the ranks until he gets a title shot. Then, at the culmination of all that combined hard work, it might be exposed that he doesn't have a heart. That would be devastating."
"You can see a good right hand, you can tell if someone has a cast-iron chin, you can see good application, obsessive training and good personal conduct. What is invinsible, until the moment is needed, is the heart."
"You see young boxers, analyse them, admire their fast moves, hand speed, foot movements and artistic edge, but there is one thing you can't see and that is the heart. That is only ever shown in the heat of the moment when the going gets tough. And you've either got it or you haven't, you're either born with it or you're not."
Advise to make it in boxing.
"To give yourself any chance you have to live it like you're living a religion, as anyone who got to the top will tell you.
"If it was Christianity, it would be the Ten Commandments. That is very difficult for people to do today. People can't even follow five, never mind ten.
"In boxing, you have your rules and regulations. I followed all the commandments and made my own luck, making my own luck using an imaginery substance called Godspeed."
"Understand that the only things that keep you going are courage and patience.
"There is an illusion called the force, the Almighty, Christ the Lord, God- whatever you want to call it. If you believe in this force then it's something you can hang on to and it usually takes you through."
"I wouldn't expect others to follow my beliefs. I won't save anyone- I will be my own salvation. Everyone has to work that out for themselves."
"The partner is also important. I was with Karron because of her beauty and because she was easy to get on with, if I was with a woman who was taken up by her own career then I'd have had to sack her."
"The life of a prize fighter is thus: training first, health second. That is the golden rule.
"When you're in the ring competing, the rule is thus: winning first, health second. And if you can't win, stay there and take your beating, if a beating is whats coming your way.
"Stick to that and you'll be alright. You'll be able to live with yourself."
"To master any art form requires intellect."
What boxers does he respect?
"I respect anybody who has the courage to climb between those ropes. You are surrendering your life every time you climb between or jump over those ropes."
"The boxers I respect most are those who come up the hard way and win or lose with integrity."
I personally asked him about Saturday's Bernard Hopkins-Winky Wright fight.
"I think I've seen Hopkins twice, against Oscar De La Hoya and Howard Eastman.
"Winky Wright is Christopher's (Eubank's son) fighter. I sat and watched him with Christopher and explained to Christopher that that style was negative and incorrect. That style doesn't work, and the fact it works for Winky Wright means he's an exceptional fighter, he must be.
"When you tuck up all the time, that's target practice, you're giving your opponent one up. When you only throw straight head punches, it only takes a master of geometry. Hopkins to me looks like a wily old master of geometry."
"One time that style worked was when Nigel Benn fought Michael Watson. But that would never have happened again where you have a mindless fighter throwing punches at a target that had two hands up like this *cups his hands to the side of his head* and was counter punched until he was exhausted to the point where he hit the ground from a jab and could not make the count.
"Also, I think the German boy's (Rocchigiani?) guard caused Michael Nunn nightmares. But then Nunn only threw straight head punches.
"But apart from that and apart from Winky Wright, you don't come to block."
"Neither (Hopkins or Wright) stand a great chance against Joe Calzaghe. Calzaghe throws too many punches for those styles and is a master of geometry himself."
And for USA fans who haven't seen much of Eubank. Don't sweat!
In the next 16 to 20 months, the Irish firm Platinum One will be releasing a DVD of his career with many features, hopefully reaching the USA.
His manner had been sterner than the Eubank we all love. But before he left I asked him where he was off to and he didn't disappoint.
"Are you getting this? Chris Eubank likes abit of knuckle. Not the sort you'd expect me to come upon in the ring but the pork variety served up at Mr Chow!
"It's in Knightsbridge. There's a dish called the Pork Knuckle. There's no bone in it, no knuckle at all. It's just six squares of pork which is the tastiest thing you have ever put in your mouth.
"It just blows you away. It's the best of the best of the best. I'm trying to find a better word, but it's not there.
"Now I've not actually decided if I'm going there or if I'm going to The Winter Garden in Marylebone, but I'm hungry. I suppose it depends on traffic."
I couldn't get a word in edgeways.
"At The Winter Garden, the ambience here is very good. It's classy, understated, traditional and very loungey and they have a high atrium. I like places where there's a good ambience. Their sea bass is also very good. What I like is the air-conditioned, verdant of a lounge- it's cool!
"The third option would be The Ivy in Leicester Square, which I discovered when I had lunch there the day of the first Michael Watson fight.
"The Ivy- good food, good ambience. Do I have to queue? I don't want to get them into trouble, because I know that everybody else has to book six months in advance but, err, put it this way: they know me well."
And with that he drove off into the day in his 8-tonne truck, beeping the horn at every man and his dog.
Interesting read. Eubank was massive for a MW in my opinion. Whoever has had the chance to read his biography, will know the weight struggles he had.
Eubank was no the most talented of fighters by any means, but he had courage, discipline & was professional as a boxer.
Very honest answer when asked about a fight with him & Roy Jones. Eubank fought when British Boxing was flying on all fronts. It was mainstream back then. Those were the days indeed.
I'll always remember a quote from Eubank in his biography: "Training first, health second". He was that committed & dedicated. I personally think he'd make a good trainer. Here's been there, seen it & done it!