Moments after stopping Tyrone McKenna inside 10 rounds in March, Harlem Eubank was joined in the ring by Chris Eubank and had no option but to let his uncle do the selling on his behalf.
Eubank Senior was at the time estranged from his own son and therefore had no issue denigrating his son’s upcoming fight against Conor Benn. He even went so far as to predict that it wouldn’t materialise and that, in the event of a cancellation, Harlem Eubank, his nephew, would be more than ready to fill the void and fight Conor Benn instead. His reasoning for this was simple: Harlem Eubank, unlike Chris, is a welterweight and much closer to Benn’s natural weight than Chris Junior.
There was also another reason, of course, and that reason was money. It made sense, financially, for Harlem Eubank to try to position himself as a Eubank willing to fight Conor Benn, particularly given the slow-burning nature of his own career. With just one fight against Benn, everything would presumably change overnight.
Instead, Benn vs. Eubank Jnr did happen, and Harlem Eubank was forced to think outside the box for his next opportunity. Weeks later, it was then announced that he would be fighting Jack Catterall, a man whose name is perhaps not as well known as “Benn” or “Eubank” but whose skills far eclipse those of Conor and Chris. In fact, in many ways it made sense for Harlem Eubank to find Jack Catterall when he did and for them to fight on July 5 in Manchester. After all, not only are their personalities similar, but they prefer to do their talking with their fists and they back their skills to take them to places other fighters reach by using other means. They are not showmen but rather purists; purists appreciated by purists.
Even so, there is still no escaping the spectre of Chris Eubank Snr. Indeed, the title of the July 5 event, the Warrior Code, comes straight from the Eubank dictionary and Sam Jones, Catterall’s manager, even decided to attend this afternoon’s press conference in Manchester “dressed” as Eubank Snr, monocle and sheriff’s badge included.
Never one to shy away from the limelight, Jones’ ability to make a press conference all about himself was less of an issue today due to the fact that both Catterall and Eubank prefer others to do the talking on their behalf. “I’m actually really disappointed nobody managed to get Senior here,” said Jones. “I was really looking forward to meeting him.”
“Senior’s a national treasure,” said Eubank. “He’s not here to debate promoters.”
Thankfully, the schtick didn’t last long and Jones’ monocle was soon and respectfully removed. It was then left to Jack Catterall, coming off his first professional loss, to give the Eubank fight its proper context.
“I find myself in a position where my back’s against the wall coming off a defeat,” he said, referring to his close points loss to Arnold Barboza in February. “I’ve been working on myself since the fight. I’ve taken myself to America to do a lot of sparring and I’ve come home and knuckled down to training.
“This is an opportunity. When the phone rang and they presented Harlem, it was a ‘yes’. It has always been a ‘yes’. I’ve never turned down any fights.
“What excites me about this fight is that it is a domestic fight. Those are probably the fights in my career where I’ve performed at my best. The pressure’s on, but I think I thrive on the pressure. And coming off a defeat, I’ve got to go in there and put it on him. I have to prove that I do belong at this level.”
In terms of levels, Catterall, 30-2 (13), has certainly fought at higher ones than Harlem Eubank to date. However, the thing that makes this fight on July 5 interesting is that it happens now, following Catterall’s first defeat, and that it will be his first fight at welterweight, having previously excelled as a super-lightweight. Also, in Eubank, he fights a man unbeaten in 21 fights; someone who does not yet know how it feels to lose.
“He's a hungry, determined fighter, and he’s in a position where I found myself a few years ago, champing at the bit for an opportunity to break on to that stage and fight for world titles,” said Catterall. “That gives me the motivation to double down and train extra hard because he wants to come and have it. I won’t let him have it.”
The word “opportunity” was bandied around a lot in Manchester today and it meant different things to both boxers. For Catterall, July 5 represents the opportunity to establish himself in a new weight class and re-establish himself as Britain’s premier technician. For Eubank, on the other hand, July 5 offers him the opportunity to claim centre stage and show the world what he can do.
“This is the opportunity that I’ve been training for since I came into the sport,” said Eubank. “I came into it because I wanted to be world champion and Jack is a world-class operator. He’s proven it time and time again. Now it’s my opportunity to go in there and show people I’m ready to win a world title. Jack is the type of fighter I need to overcome to fulfil my ambitions in the sport. We’re prepared, we’re ready. We know how good Jack is. But this fight isn’t about how good Jack is. It’s about how good I am. I’m ready to show the world.”
Eubank, 21-0 (9), added: “This is the time the fight was meant to happen. I believe that. Jack is in the best form of his life – he’s just coming off a defeat at the highest level, that’s all. We’re going to see the best version of Jack Catterall in there on July 5th. That’s the man that I’m ready to overcome.
“I’ve heard that they don’t know how good I am. It’s still to be determined. Every time I step up, it brings the best out of me. This will be no different.”