BoxRec

I always said to Ronnie and Barry: I'll keep training, you just get me fights. I'll keep winning, you just get me fights, one on top of the other. That was my business. I had a slightly maniacal artistic license. If I was criticised I always got back to what I did best and that was win. I had to be immune to criticism. I just kept training and winning.

After two and a half years, I was number-one contender in the World Boxing Association rankings, and then signed to Nigel Benn for the World Boxing Organisation title because I wouldn't have been mandated for more than half a year. If people don't want to fight you, just keep training, keep fighting, keep winning and take whatever you can get. Sooner or later you'll be champion of the whole wide world.

- 2007


Benn and Watson were great fighters, in that they came back from losses to do great things. You always look at what opponents go on to do. Rocchigiani went on to beat Michael Nunn for the WBC world championship. Malinga went on to beat Nigel Benn for the WBC world championship. Benn went on to win another world championship and prove himself a legend of his own lifetime with his triumph in the Gerald McClellan fight. Calzaghe went on to prove himself, arguably, the greatest champion of the era he fought in.

If you look at the mandated challenger I fought in Tony Thornton, he beat the rough and tough New Yorker Merqui Sosa and his only other losses in the 1990s came to, arguably, the two best pound-for-pound fighters of the era. Lindell Holmes was a former IBF world champion who only lost his world championship via a bodyshot. Rocchigiani was a former undefeated IBF world champion. Watson and Wharton were reigning Commonwealth champions, which meant they were champions of 75% of the planet.

- 2007


Dodging a fighter is a cardinal sin in boxing and is something I can never be accused of, unlike one such character who came on the scene at the end of my era. Roy Jones, James Toney and Michael Nunn for example, I did not dodge.

Let's use Roy Jones as an example. When people asked me why I wouldn't fight him, I would say to them, 'Never mind the title or my job, a fight like that could take five or six years off my life.' I was well aware of that. He was, pound-for-pound, arguably the best fighter on the planet; in regards to his style, his devastating punching ability, the whole repertoire, he had it.

The rule is that if you are champion of the world for one body, you cannot be the No. 1 contender for another belt. Unless someone was officially the recognised No. 1 contender, I had no professional obligation to face them. With Roy Jones, he was fortunately (and I use that word with the utmost respect) never No. 1 contender. Had he been, I would not have dodged. I would have taken the fight. Would I have won the fight? Highly unlikely. What would have been for sure was that he would have come away from the fight and got hurt, and I would have been hurt probably far more than he was. It would of been a war. Technically we would have been well-matched, so our pure grit would have started to come into play. I believe we both had powerful wills, so I feel that fight would have ended up running on pure instinct. That can be an exceptionally violent occurrence. Interestingly, I was told that Roy Jones was rumoured to have said that the only fighter he had reservations about facing was me. I dont remember any of my critics saying much about that.

One figher I was relieved never to see at No. 1 contender rank was the skilful Herrol Graham. I made it quite clear at the time what I thought of his gift. That fight would never have happened unless he was No. 1 contender, in which case I couldn't dodge. McCallum and Nunn were quality fighters but not like Herrol Graham. You couldn't hit him - he was so evasive, they said in the business, 'you couldn't hit him with a handful of stones.' That was true, he was a grandmaster.

I did say I would not fight in New York. You see, having learned to fight over there, I knew the hunger of the New Yorkers. They were a peculiar type of beast, very hard, relentless fighters who swear by the 'kill or be killed' mentality. Plus, by living in England, I openly admitted to enjoying being a big fish in a small pond. America is a vast pond, with some very dangerous, large fish in there! I needed to make money and there were fighters in New York who were not No. 1 contenders but were very risky to take on. I don't remember actually being offered a fight in New York. If Barry had come to me with the No. 1 contender in New York, I could not have dodged. Ultimately, I would have become accepting of it. But it would have been a very rough and tough night's work.

So, the ultimate measure of a fighter is not dodging. If you do, you lose your standing, your respect, your honour. Don't dodge the No. 1 contender.

- Eubank, The Autobiography


Boxing is cool.

Jesus, how many more quotes from Eubank are we going to hear.

Eubank failed to fight many of his leading contemporaries. Simple as that.

I readEubank's book a few yrs back and he constantly hinted through out that he basically considers himself the greatest boxer and greatest person in the history of life, some fighters arrogance or some peoples arrogance is a little put on., but Eubank is genuinely deluded, tho extremely intelligent.

Extremely intelligent. I think not. He feigns intelligence far more than he embodies it. He's relatively articulate, but part of the reason he sounds so obscure is that he tries too hard to appear verbose and erudite, which he mistakes for intelligence.

STP wrote: Benn and Watson were great fighters, in that they came back from losses to do great things. You always look at what opponents go on to do. Rocchigiani went on to beat Michael Nunn for the WBC world championship. Malinga went on to beat Nigel Benn for the WBC world championship. Benn went on to win another world championship and prove himself a legend of his own lifetime with his triumph in the Gerald McClellan fight. Calzaghe went on to prove himself, arguably, the greatest champion of the era he fought in.

Thats actually quite interesting.

The bit about the commonwealth making up 3/4's of the planet is BS though, its 60% i believe.

As for his intelligence, he does claim to have an IQ of 190;)

You clowns. The prestigious WBO #1 contender is rarely the lb4lb best ticket-seller walking the face of the Commonwealth.

he blew £10,000,000. thats not the most intelligent move i've seen.

A lot more than that I'm led to believe. He made around 15m quid in the first half of the 90s (much more in today's rate), and he was 1.9m quid in debt. I don't know if I could spend that kind of money if I tried, it would take me maybe 50 years. It would be exhausting.

I remember one of the many broken straws for his missus was when Chris came out of a London shop and got a taxi to another shop which was about ten yards down the road. Literally. It seemed to sum up his insane spending.

Didn't he also fly his hairdresser to where ever he was , every 2 weeks.
A normal cut was something like £300.

one reporter saw him stop his truck at a petrol station, buy a large glass bottle of the most expensive water, fill his truck with something like £399 worth of petrol, then pour one small drop of the water on his hands, rub his hands together, pour all the rest of the luxury H2O down the drain, put the bottle in the recycle bottle container and off he drove..

I liked the way he taped his own hands, millimetre-perfect and a cool pattern. And the way he shadow-boxed looked cool.

EUBANK - JONES WOULD HAVE BEEN AN INTRESTING FIGHT ! BUT EUBANK - TONEY WAS THE ONE, EVERY1 WAS TALKIN THAT FROM 1992 TO 1994, AND I THINK EUBANK WANTED TO EVENTUALLY MAKE THAT 1, WHAT A FIGHT IT WOULD HAVE BEEN !
ENGLISH GENTLEMAN INTELLECTUAL MOTORMOUTH AGAINST AMERICAN GHETTO MOTORCITY TRASHTALKER,
OUTFIGHTER AGAINST INFIGHTER,
MUSCLEMAN SLICKSTER AGAINST TECHNIQUE SLICKSTER,
STRENGTH AND AWKWARDNESS AGAINST SKILL AND FIRE,
CLEVER AGAINST SPITEFUL

So Eubank didn't dodge Jones because fighting him would have shortened his life?

He really is a prize plank.

Eubank against Toney and Jones would have been absolutely awesome. After seeing how good Toney looked against Barkley and Littles, though, it was hard to see him losing. But interestingly, Eubank looked better than Toney when comparing the Thornton fights, esp first six rounds.

Eubank actually looks quicker and slicker when comparing Eubank-Thornton and Toney-Thornton, and IMO shows even more skill with his foot movement and ring generalship than Toney does with his pure evasiveness. That's kind of interesting. And Toney is my favourite fighter ever, but I couldn't hide the honest opinion in my head.

Jones didn't do much with Thornton before catching him a big left hook, then Thornton's shoulder went against the ropes and Jones threw about 30 punches without putting him down or anything.

Collins clearly lost to Thornton! I was suprised to see a moving Collins, trying to box Thornton, and Thornton constantly closing the gap and getting through. Steve almost lost his ear in this fight! There was blood everywhere.

Cool.

Did I just read that quote correctly? Did he basically say it's not cool to dodge, I never dodged, but oh... here's a list of fighters and situations I dodged... but they don't count?

jeej wrote:Did I just read that quote correctly? Did he basically say it's not cool to dodge, I never dodged, but oh... here's a list of fighters and situations I dodged... but they don't count?

Correct. His selective use of facts is breathtaking. "Tony Thornton only lost twice in the 1990s to arguably the world's best two P4P fighters". Yes Chris, he did lose to Jones and Toney after you fought him. He's also lost four times before you fought him and going into the fight, he was a massive underdog who everyone thought had no chance.....

I think Eubank talks a lot of sense at times. Moreover, I find it interesting to hear the opinions of an ex-world champ on the likes of other champs and contenders. Like it or not, he has more insight and knowledge than any of the armchair pundits on this site.

Psychologically speaking, that's very true. Some of us have trained at local clubs, but who knows what fighting in front of a massive audience feels like?

The fear of outright failure is surely greater than the fear of taking a hiding? Eubank was and is a proud man, not a cowardly one.

STP wrote:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CO-jsOiJfxs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4j0k9Nxt9Q

Calzaghe and Eubank

Honest

fist wrote:I think Eubank talks a lot of sense at times. Moreover, I find it interesting to hear the opinions of an ex-world champ on the likes of other champs and contenders. Like it or not, he has more insight and knowledge than any of the armchair pundits on this site.

Some of the people are more than armchair pundits, they are also well respected journalists in their own right, and unlike Eubank, they are not clouded by his own massive ego.

Terry D wrote: I watched Eubank-Rocchigianni the other night

Me too, and while it looked pretty what Eubank was doing, there was nt a great deal of skill involved.. he looked incapable of really giving Rocchigiani angles and throwing proper hooks or doubling a hook.. he basically just kept Rocchigiani's guard up with flashy arm punches, and landed a few solid bodyshots here and there to keep him grounded.. i actually think it was close and maybe Rocchigiani nicked a draw with the point Eubank had deducted.. if you werent boxing people like us, you'd think it was a brilliant, fantastic performance and that Eubank was the best around.. but for me that fight showed his limitations in terms of skill..

STP wrote:

STP wrote:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CO-jsOiJfxs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4j0k9Nxt9Q

Calzaghe and Eubank

Honest

Boxers >>> wrestlers

i remember when Austin challenged Mike Tyson genuinely to a wrestler v boxer match for ppv, fuckin hilarious, he'd have been anihilated in less than 10 seconds..