BoxRec

Posted: **12 Dec 2007, 05:09**

What achievement has meant most to you?

Winning the World Championship and defending it 19 times. That's an English record and that foundation allows me to be a role model, teaching by example. What would be an ultimate achievement in the field I participated in? The most dramatic turnaround ever in the most demanding bout of all time - that would be achieving the absolute limit. But being a role model to me means more than anything, having wealth of integrity and wealth of dignity.

What do you make of Joe Calzaghe winning Sports Personality of the Year?

If that's correct, then accordance to achievement it's a correct choice, because boxing is the toughest profession on the planet, and just happens to come under the category of sport. The object of sport is to win!

How do you rate Calzaghe among the greats?

Calzaghe is a good fighter. We won't know if he's a great one until he loses. I understand that there are good, great, legend and legend of your own time statuses. I'm not saying he's not a great champion - he is.

At the start of the 1990s, you were involved in the greatest period British sport has ever seen in many people's lifetime's. Do you agree?

Yeah you had the public's golden boy's in Nigel Benn, Michael Watson, Frank Bruno, Paul Gascoigne and Gary Linekar. And you had me.

What possessed you to be a boxer?

My brothers. They never accepted me as far back as I can remember. They became boxers and dreamed of being world champions. All I dreamed of was to be accepted. Once I became world champion, after eight years of relentless repetition, I no longer needed their acceptance. And that's when training went from hardship to something of immense hardship. But with each win and each year, the more money I felt I deserved!

In 1994/95, before Michael Jordan said "I'm back!" on the day you lost to Steve Collins, you were the world's highest-paid sportsman according to UK Esquire. How much were you earning?

Well, I was on a £10 million World Tour for eight fights in 11 months. I made £15 million from purses in three years and 11 months, which is more like $60 million in today's rate. To my knowledge, only Mike Tyson exceeds that out of boxers in that ammount of time. Not that money isn't even more vulgar than it is convenient - it is.

What were your opinions on the Ricky Hatton-Floyd Mayweather fight?

I happened to watch that fight with Mike McCallum, the great Jamaican boxer, and we agreed that Hatton's heart was shades of Michael Watson. Forget the skills, they are secondary. And forget the money. What the people want to see is the heart, and I think Hatton showed some great heart. The Americans would definitely have him back.

And Mayweather?

He can dance, he's very unorthodox in the ring, and he's very, very gifted. But I don't think his substance or integrity are top notch, and he's not one of the greats.

James Toney verbally abused you with Mickey Rourke on The Jonathan Ross Show many moons ago. Why no fight?

Because I'd probably be walking around on my heels now. But if he was number-one contender, I wouldn't have dodged.

What was your greatest discovery on your path to the top?

That you need persistence, persistence, persistence - and that when you arrive you need the application of integrity, reason and forgiveness.

What was your greatest asset?

My integrity.

With hindsight, what would you have done differently?

Nothing.

How would you describe your sartorialism, Chris?

I would describe it as 20 World Championship wins. That allows me to dress sartorially.

How do you keep yourself going when times are tough?

It's easy to quit, hard to keep going. Be like me - be hard.

How would you like to be remembered?

As a good role model.

And in boxing?

A noble combatant of uprightness and valour would be nice.

Posted: **12 Dec 2007, 05:14**

Bit of a non story there mate.

You should write to the Sun and ask for a job.

Posted: **12 Dec 2007, 05:14**

This is bollacks, Eubank is becoming the Chuck Norris of this forum.

Posted: **12 Dec 2007, 05:26**

why is eubank so obsessed with taking punishment and near-death? and i've never ever read a chris eubank interview anywhere where he doesn't mention deaths or potential deaths or injuries or something relating. i think he's a v.disturbed man-always has been.

but a fornicating ledge nonetheless. we will ever see hips that high, nostrils that wide, and poses that composed again?

Posted: **12 Dec 2007, 06:05**

How do you rate Calzaghe among the greats?

Calzaghe is a good fighter. We won't know if he's a great one until he loses. I understand that there are good, great, legend and legend of your own time statuses. I'm not saying he's not a great champion - he is.[/i]

OK interview, shocking topic title

Posted: **12 Dec 2007, 06:06**

Eubank says a lot of things. They rarely make sense.

Posted: **12 Dec 2007, 06:08**

mrkh wrote:why is eubank so obsessed with taking punishment and near-death? and i've never ever read a chris eubank interview anywhere where he doesn't mention deaths or potential deaths or injuries or something relating. i think he's a v.disturbed man-always has been.

Might have something to do with the fact he had an extremely difficult, violent upbringing before spending years in South Bronx, NY and going on to be involved in some of the most brutal contests seen.

Posted: **12 Dec 2007, 06:13**

In my opinion, greatness is taking risks. The Lacy and Kessler fights are Calzaghe's greatness so far.

Hatton hasn't really taken many risks, if any. (Eubank didn't either).

(Nigel Benn did - Barkley, McClellan.)

Posted: **12 Dec 2007, 06:51**

he was drinking tea out of a never mind the buzzcocks cup on that prog a while back and starts yabbering on about the "concept" and "unit of thought" behind the cup, china, tea leaves, and other f-ing nonsense. then he says "all the rudiments for success in life can be found in making a cup of tea!" i'll look for it on youtube. it was on there.

Posted: **12 Dec 2007, 06:57**

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmhk7B1hdfY

Posted: **12 Dec 2007, 07:24**

We should have a sticky titled: Eubank says more complete bollocks.....

Posted: **12 Dec 2007, 11:41**

Eubank..... says Calzaghe not great!

No he didnt you fvckin liar

Posted: **12 Dec 2007, 15:03**

I'm not saying he's not a great champion - he is.

Posted: **13 Dec 2007, 07:16**

Goz wrote:Bit of a non story there mate.

You should write to the Sun and ask for a job.

Haha. Well if Pat Sheehan can be their boxing guy, anyone can. Bring back Colin Hart.....

"T.M.K"

Posted: **13 Dec 2007, 14:45**

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gucv6amhro8

Posted: **15 Dec 2007, 04:40**

mrkh wrote:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gucv6amhro8

Be careful, it might get taken down by Sports Network.

Posted: **17 Dec 2007, 07:19**

From homeless criminal to hated champion, to nationally accepted prat. Chris Eubank, former WBO middleweight and super-middleweight king, drops in for a chat.

He had what most people would consider to be quite a rubbish childhood. No toys to play with, a broken home and abusive older brothers. Chris was hopeless at school, always in trouble, for fighting mainly. He was involved in the 'boisterous ways' of stealing high class merchandise from shops and selling it at cheaper rates back in his local community, and lived rough in London for two years. He was sent by his mother to America - New York's blighted Bronx borough to be precise - and discovered, 'I hated it. It was more than a jungle. It was dirty and dangerous.' Subsequently, Eubank entered the gym and boxing became his life. He started at 16.

"In my teenage years, everyone let me down. Everyone. So I thought, 'Right, the only person who is going to let me down in the boxing ring is me. It's all down to me. If I don't get up to run in the morning, I'm letting myself down.' So, I went to the gym every day, seven days a week. If I drank a can of lager or a bottle of Bacardi, or smoked a cigarette, I was letting myself down. If I took a swig of alcohol or a puff of marijuana, I was letting myself down. So I eliminated everything and became a loner. It was the only way."

He trained with manic obsession, desperate to win belts, medals and trophies to show his older brothers - all boxers - in the hope of them accepting him, and desperate to hone his skills to show them too. "Every minute detail of every punch or move was practised thousands and thousands and thousands of times."

He says he went to see every boxing manager in London in 1988 - and found, "They were clearly used to mugging people. Each of them tried mugging me. Even after I beat a world class fighter in Anthony Logan, they tried mugging me. Whenever I spoke out, I was speaking FOR the boxers, not against them."

What's it like stepping into the ring? "Absolutely terrifying. But that's what gives you the buzz. And if you're terrified that's good, because that's the only way you'll win." Did he ever lose that feeling, and as a result the fight? "Against [Steve] Collins. He wasn't in my class, no style, a donkey, just - ugh - grit. But I underestimated how much he had." And the most terrifying? "Easily Nigel Benn. He verbally abused me at Cafe Royal prior to our fight in 1990 and I was petrified on the spot."

He reveals he performed best under fear (not that he ever showed it). "How could you not be terrified of Nigel Benn's power and aggression? I was terrified of Dan Sherry because I had no losses to study. I was terrified of Gary Stretch because he was a tall southpaw. I was terrified of Michael Watson because he did nothing particularly good yet had beaten a great fighter and only lost to a great fighter. I was terrified of Lindell Holmes, Tony Thornton and John Jarvis because of how many knockouts they had. I was terrified of Graciano Rocchigiani because I had no losses to study and he was a massive man. I was terrified of Henry Wharton because in his previous fight he'd knocked his opponent out in 30 seconds, completely cold.

"It works like this: If you're not terrified, you'll lose. But if you're not terrified and your opponent shows he's terrified, you'll win but with little style or impact. As far as coming back for more, winning was the trap and the more you did it, the more you got sucked in. At first it was a game, but then the more I won the more I couldn't lose because the more my manhood was on the line. The more times you're terrified, the more material trappings you treat yourself with and the more you have to fight to pay!"

Posted: **17 Dec 2007, 22:29**

JAIL ME PLEADS EUBANK
Daily Star, UK - 1 minute ago
Former world boxing champion Chris Eubank yesterday pleaded with a judge to jail him for staging an anti-war protest at Downing Street. But eccentric Eubank ...

http://news.google.co.uk/news?hl=en&q=c ... a=N&tab=wn

Prat.

Posted: **19 Dec 2007, 09:16**

Eubanks an absolute nut--

"I first started boxing in February 1983 and not until 13 whole years later did I not have something of a significant boxing match in the February or March of a year. That, as strange as it sounds, was just too weird for me. In the February and March of 1996, I felt empty and started light training again at my home gym. And can you blame me?
"In 1984 I had Damien Eddie, the novice Golden Gloves champion in my first amateur win. In 1985 I had Joseph Henry, the semi finals of the Golden Gloves. In 1986 I had Eric Holland, who gave me my toughest fight 'til the Benn fight bar a guy called Andre Coles - who I beat to win the Spanish Golden Gloves - and Anthony Logan. In 1987 I had James Canty, who fought in the 1980 United States Olympic trial while I was in Karib care home in Peckham. In 1988 I had Winston Burnett, who had 15 times as many fights as me. In 1989 I had Anthony Logan. In 1990 I had Hugo Corti. In 1991 I had my first world championship defence. In 1992 I had future world champion Sugar Boy Malinga, of Nelson Mandela's homeland. In 1993 I had former world champion Lindell Holmes. In 1994 I had future and former world champion Graciano Rocchigiani, in Germany. And in 1995 I had Steve Collins, my first professional loss.
"When I lost to Steve Collins in Cork Stadium, shortly before announcing my premature retirement, I had been a prize fighter in professional rings for 11 years straight. I fought in Felt Forums and Madison Square Gardens for the Spanish Golden Gloves championships and Golden Gloves championships, and I fought in Cork Stadium against Collins, and everywhere inbetween.
"I had 21 world championship fights in under five years, including 14 super middleweight defences in three calender years. It had become tedious, and one was at pains with what one was doing. They were all live at prime time on ITV or SKY, and my first 15 world championship fights were live on the prime network in the United States and all over the world. I was a champion in my own right for five-and-a-half years straight. It all took a strain on my character and demeanour outside the arena, but at the same time it was like a drug: being the attention of the arena gives you an adrenalin rush of which nothing comes close. I realised pretty soon, you could say, that there was nothing that could possibly replace that even at 20%. But that's nothing to do with why I came back. I was head-strong enough and dignified enough and responsible enough at that point to stay away if that was the correct thing to do. But it wasn't. I had to take my beatings.
"I took by far the most horrific beatings of my life with the first Benn and second Watson fights, but the public didn't percieve I had because I won. Collins beat me twice, but punched like a little girl. So I had to come back to take those beatings and end it correctly, because it goes like this: it is not what is said at the start of your career when you are all the rage, it is not what is said during your career when you are being hailed by the critics for better or for worse, it is what is said at the end of your career, how you are remembered, what matters. I await Naseem's comeback."

Posted: **19 Dec 2007, 12:03**

Miuna wrote:Eubanks an absolute nut--

"I first started boxing in February 1983 and not until 13 whole years later did I not have something of a significant boxing match in the February or March of a year. That, as strange as it sounds, was just too weird for me. In the February and March of 1996, I felt empty and started light training again at my home gym. And can you blame me?
"In 1984 I had Damien Eddie, the novice Golden Gloves champion in my first amateur win. In 1985 I had Joseph Henry, the semi finals of the Golden Gloves. In 1986 I had Eric Holland, who gave me my toughest fight 'til the Benn fight bar a guy called Andre Coles - who I beat to win the Spanish Golden Gloves - and Anthony Logan. In 1987 I had James Canty, who fought in the 1980 United States Olympic trial while I was in Karib care home in Peckham. In 1988 I had Winston Burnett, who had 15 times as many fights as me. In 1989 I had Anthony Logan. In 1990 I had Hugo Corti. In 1991 I had my first world championship defence. In 1992 I had future world champion Sugar Boy Malinga, of Nelson Mandela's homeland. In 1993 I had former world champion Lindell Holmes. In 1994 I had future and former world champion Graciano Rocchigiani, in Germany. And in 1995 I had Steve Collins, my first professional loss.
"When I lost to Steve Collins in Cork Stadium, shortly before announcing my premature retirement, I had been a prize fighter in professional rings for 11 years straight. I fought in Felt Forums and Madison Square Gardens for the Spanish Golden Gloves championships and Golden Gloves championships, and I fought in Cork Stadium against Collins, and everywhere inbetween.
"I had 21 world championship fights in under five years, including 14 super middleweight defences in three calender years. It had become tedious, and one was at pains with what one was doing. They were all live at prime time on ITV or SKY, and my first 15 world championship fights were live on the prime network in the United States and all over the world. I was a champion in my own right for five-and-a-half years straight. It all took a strain on my character and demeanour outside the arena, but at the same time it was like a drug: being the attention of the arena gives you an adrenalin rush of which nothing comes close. I realised pretty soon, you could say, that there was nothing that could possibly replace that even at 20%. But that's nothing to do with why I came back. I was head-strong enough and dignified enough and responsible enough at that point to stay away if that was the correct thing to do. But it wasn't. I had to take my beatings.
"I took by far the most horrific beatings of my life with the first Benn and second Watson fights, but the public didn't percieve I had because I won. Collins beat me twice, but punched like a little girl. So I had to come back to take those beatings and end it correctly, because it goes like this: it is not what is said at the start of your career when you are all the rage, it is not what is said during your career when you are being hailed by the critics for better or for worse, it is what is said at the end of your career, how you are remembered, what matters. I await Naseem's comeback."

You're an idiot.

Posted: **19 Dec 2007, 12:10**

As is Eubank. I don't think a person alive think's that what comes out of his mouth isn't complete,fornicating,whatever. I don't know what goes on in his fornicating head.

Posted: **21 Dec 2007, 12:13**

Abandoning two of your son's is not a man of integrity.

Posted: **21 Dec 2007, 12:43**

NATHANAEL Wilson has never had a dad. And now that the hidden love child of former world boxing champion Chris Eubank is fast approaching 16, he wants to know why.

Nathanael, known to his friends as Nat, is Eubank's fifth child - a secret-son who the fighter turned celebrity has tried to conceal from the public.

After years of being ignored and spurned, Nat has decided to speak publicly about his heartache for the first time, in the hope of finally attracting the attention of his natural father.

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"The rejection is the hardest part of it all," says Nat, quietly.

"My father has acted like a two-faced hypocrite, but if he came to me and said sorry I'd give him the chance to explain. I just want to know why he has turned his back on me. I feel I've got a right to know."

Multi-millionaire Eubank has never acknowledged his oldest son - the result of a six-month romance with Nat's mum Cynthia in the late 80s.

As if that didn't hurt enough, four years ago when Nat tried to call his dad, the former boxer delivered a knockout blow telling him never to get in touch again.

"I tried ringing him when I was 12," explains Nat, who is the spitting image of his famous dad. "But his butler came on and said, 'Chris doesn't want you to ring back'.

"I was really hurt. I tore up his number. I took all his pictures out of my photo album. The man's got no morals. He tries to act like a saint, but he's like a little snake - even with that lisp he's like, 'sssssss'.

"I was watching him on TV in At Home With The Eubanks and he said, 'I would never do anything to hurt anyone'.

"I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I just changed channels - I couldn't listen to him any more.

"He makes out he's a family man, but he turned his back on me. He left me and my mum to struggle while he drives around in his big cars and lives in a big house."

Today, the only link Nat has with the man he once idolised is an autographed photo given to him during a chance meeting nine years ago.

"I knew he was my dad and I used to watch him on TV when I was a kid," says Nat. "Mum has always been straight with me about what happened,

"When I was about six, my mum's friend took me to some event and my dad was there doing a publicity thing. He knew who I was straight away.

"He said, 'Is this Cynthia's son?' And I think he started crying.

Then he gave me a picture of himself and signed it, 'From the Champ'. I remember thinking, 'That's my dad'.

"I didn't know what to feel. I was so upset. It was the only time I've ever met him, or even spoken to him."

Eubank met Cynthia in a seafood restaurant in South London in June 1987, where she was working as a waitress.

"He wasn't really a big name then," says Cynthia, 42, who has built up a successful children's nursery business in Croydon, where she and Nat now live. "He asked me out and we went on a few dates - it was fun.

"Chris had already arranged to go to the States shortly after we met and at the same time I decided to travel to Jamaica to see relatives.

"I went to stay with my dad in New York and Chris was living in The Bronx, so we hooked up and dated for six months."

One night, when they were taking a taxi home from an exclusive Manhattan party, the couple had a huge row.

Soon after the bust-up Cynthia realised she was pregnant. But when she told Eubank, he dumped her. She says: "If there was anything between us it ended that night after the party. So to find out I was pregnant was a shock.

"I told Chris as soon as I knew. Initially he was shocked, but then he just wasn't interested.

"He never said anything positive about me having a baby, or him having a son - it was something his career didn't allow at the time.

Cynthia returned to England where she gave birth to Nat. They lived in a flat in Brixton, South London, but it was tough making ends meet.

The difference between their modest lifestyle and Eubank's lavish one couldn't have been more marked

W HILE he drove around in a flashy £200,000 Aston Martin sports car, Cynthia had to take their son to school in a battered old Ford Fiesta.

"I accepted that Chris didn't want anything to do with us," says Cynthia.

"It was painful - you just don't think a person can have a heart like that. But all I knew was that I had two jobs and was struggling to support my son while Chris was rolling in money.

"Nat was coming up to 18 months old when I first saw Chris boxing on TV. So I looked in the paper and found details of his coaching team."

But her attempts to get in touch with her old boyfriend fell on deaf ears.

She recalls, "His manager told me Chris had said he didn't even know me. My hurt became anger. I thought he not only denies he has a child, but he's denying even knowing me."

He only gave in when Cynthia contacted lawyers and came up with the DNA proof.

Eubank, who is thought to have amassed a fortune of more than £10million during his career, forked out a lump sum of around £30,000 to end the maintenance action. Effectively, he washed his hands of Nat.

Chris now lives with his wife Karron and their four children in a £2.5million mock-Tudor home in Brighton, East Sussex.

Two years ago he appeared on Celebrity Big Brother and in Louis Theroux's series.

And last year, his family appeared on their own Channel 5 reality TV show, At Home With The Eubanks. It all reinforced his status as one of our best-loved celebrities. But not everyone is won over by Chris's eccentric charm.

"He's an idiot. He's a circus clown," says Nat, mimicking the famous lisp, "Cwisss Euubank," before bursting into laughter.

"I admit, he was quite funny on TV and I saw a little bit of me in him - that was amazing!

"But he treats his kids a bit bad. He cut off one kid's hair for being naughty, I thought that was wrong. And he's into old traditions and tough on discipline. He thinks the woman should be in the kitchen.

"He spends thousands on his own clothes, but his kids look a bit scruffy. For someone of his tastes, he should dress his children better. I think he's just selfish. He's been selfish with me and my mum."

Nat sighs, then adds wistfully, "I do sometimes think things could have been different."

He might never have known his dad, but Nat, who has a four-year-old half-brother called Jared, shares many of his father's mannerisms.

He even took up boxing, but after a few training sessions decided it wasn't for him.

NAT now attends a drama school in London, but his main passion lies in hip hop and garage music - he dreams of becoming an MC.

"A few months ago, my dad was at the train station outside my school," recalls Nat.

"One of the boys ran up to him and said, 'Have you got a son called Nathanael?' He said, 'I've never heard of him in my life'. It hurts that even my friends know my own dad doesn't want anything to do with me.

"He knows who I am, he knows what school I go to, but he has never been in touch. I wrote to him when I was 11 and sent him a school photo and asked him whether he ever comes to Croydon.

"I want to know why he has never been in touch. I do think I've missed out. I don't really have a role model, apart from my uncles."

Cynthia has her own theory about why Eubank has turned his back so forcibly on Nat.

"Chris married a white girl, so he could live the life of an English gentleman," she says.

"I've come to the conclusion that Chris doesn't like who he is and because of this he doesn't want a replica of himself.

"He doesn't want a black child - a black child would represent him.

"Animals treat their young better than he's treated his son."

A friend of the boxer said last night: "Chris has never made any secret of the fact that Nathanael is his child. He believes he has made proper provision for the upbringing of his son.

"His relationship with Cynthia was well before he married his wife Karron. And she is fully aware of all of this.

"He believes that in the circumstances he has acted responsibly and as honourably as possible."

BoxRec

EUBANK ... SAYS CALZAGHE NOT GREAT !

EUBANK ... SAYS CALZAGHE NOT GREAT !