By Lee Callan: One of boxing’s flashiest and toughest fighters down the years, the English showstopper Chris Eubank, speaks exclusively to EastsideBoxing on all manner of things, including his tough rise to the top.
On starting boxing
“I was a juvenile delinquent and master shoplifter in inner-city London, an absconding substance addict, and I got thrown into inner-city New York in the South Bronx at a time when that borough was described as the ‘Beirut of North America’.
“I had little choice but to mend my ways. I gave up my bad ways and went to school, church and the gym. The gym happened to be Jerome Boxing Club and I worked as janitor to pay my fees.
“The sparring in this place was more than real. I was seeing tough guys leaving the gym on a stretcher, in an ambulance, crying.
“I was there seven days a week for five years and I out-lasted everyone, and as the old saying goes: if you can make it in New York…
“When I started, I used to watch a guy called Dennis Cruz going through his moves in the ring with world champions like Camacho and Gomez and LaPorte. Then I would try to copy his moves against top contenders like Milton Guest and Ramos and Pedro Villela.
“It was a real baptism.
“I started doing well as an amateur, back when you had to win tournaments in your own gym just to get a fight.
“Even though I couldn’t punch correctly, I won the Spanish Golden Gloves in 1984, mostly on aggression. I had quick hands and could move my feet very well, I could box well if I got my jab working, but I couldn’t punch.
“It took me years and years to learn how to punch correctly, but I got every punch down in the end.
“I went through all the different trainers – Andy Martinez, Luis Camacho, Lenny DeJesus, and the main one, Maximo Pierret.
“When I came to the United Kingdom to box in Brighton, former British lightweight champion Ray Cattouse tried training me, but I felt I couldn’t trust him, and when I signed for Barry Hearn, a guy called Darkie Smith tried training me, but I was never listening.
“If you ask Ronnie Davies, he’ll tell you himself that I taught him more than he taught me.”
On early career
“Unlike Nigel Benn, I wasn’t fed durable patsies on the way up for a Porsche or Ferrari. I had to scrape my way. I fought guys like Eric Holland, James Canty and Michael Justin, who couldn’t get fights because they really won their losses and splits and draws.
“I fought Anthony Logan, (ranked) 16 with the WBC, after just 11 fights, and a defensive master like Randy Smith, after just 13 fights. I had no money, nothing.”
On boxing brothers
“My brothers, Peter and Simon, had more natural talent than me but were pugs of the money men. They would take fights on a couple of hours notice for a couple of hundred in cash, because their records didn’t match their talent.
“I asked for what I was worth. I went to all the London and Irish managers and none were willing to pay me what I was worth. Then I met Barry Hearn at the 1989 World Snooker Championships, a wise man.”
On sparring affects
“I bet I sparred more than any fighter in history. I sparred 50 or 60 rounds a week for seven years, and then 125 rounds for a championship fight, of which there were 27. I probably sparred 25,000 rounds in 15 years, of which every minute of every round contained receiving and throwing dozens of full-contact, full-force punches.
“I didn’t have natural talent, but I had more world title wins than any fighter in the world from 1990 to 1995 and (was) one of the most successful world champions in history, so the proof is in the pudding in regard to sparring importance right there.”
“If you want to be the best you can be, you have to spar. But if you spar and you don’t have a dense bone structure in regard to your skull, it will affect your speech and your motorized speed patterns, but that comes with the territory. That’s boxing.
“Boxing won’t affect your intelligence, though. A lot of fighters have the tendency to slur, but that has nothing to do with their intelligence.”
On allaround success
“The best boxers – Herol Graham, Pernell Whitaker, Nunn, Toney. The best fighters – Iran Barkley, Chavez, Paul Hodkinson. The best punchers – Benn, Roy Jones, Julian Jackson.
“I was the most successful, because what I had was a bit of everything – I could box, I could fight, I could punch, but also I could strut, I could pose, I could think, I could speak.”
On Bernard Hopkins
“Bernard Hopkins has been good for boxing. He’d be the first to admit he’s not dignified, but saying bad things is not a bad thing, because boxing is viewed by the public as an entertainment business.
“As a fighter, I think he’s honed his ring intelligence over many, many years.”
On Joe Calzaghe
“One of the greatest world champions in history and never had a hard fight. He got out with his face intact and plenty of money, one in a million.”
On Nigel Benn
“He punched like no other fighter. I relished the opportunity both times to take one of those punches, suck in, reset and punch back.
“That was the greatest test of any mental or physical activity in the world.”
On reflection
“I could absorb the punches of the world’s hardest pound-for-pound puncher and debate philosophy with the lecturers of Oxford and Cambridge.
“No wonder I considered myself to be a presence rather than a man or fighter.”