Eubank and Benn on Naseem Hamed

from Eubank's autobiography - I was explaining why I wasn't speaking to Naz at this time. I had seen him on ITV saying, 'Chris Eubank stole all my moves.' Bearing in mind that I am eight years older than Naz, this seemed strange enough. He's known me since he was still a schoolkid, I was one of his hero's infact, his aunty told me that he used to watch my fights over and over again. Naz was this cheeky little chap whom I had always offered advice to, I always gave him my time, he had my mobile phone number if he ever needed me, and he regularly used to call me up for advice. He was even at my wedding. He was such a cheeky little character and I always like him for that. So when I heard this statement on television, I was very upset. It was such a snide thing to do. For a start, they were my moves, but it was knowing how considerate I had been towards him that pained me. Shortly after this, I was the Royal Lancaster Hotel in London for a charity boxing event. Naz had come to a changing room and we were talking. I said to him, 'Naz, how could you do that? Me? I don't mind, but how can you lie to the people?' I tried to pass over to him the philosophy that your boxing career is not just about how good a fighter you are, you have to be a good person too. Apologising to me didn't cut it - the apology needed to be to the ITV viewers, the great masses. He listened and then said to me. 'I don't think you want me to apologise for me, I think you want me to do it for you.' I said, 'This isn't about me, it's about you, you lied. You need to tell people your truth, explain to them that maybe you were cajoled into it, explain to them that your trainer Brendan Ingle made you say it, like you've told me. Tell them the truth. I can't accept you lying to the public at large because you will hurt yourself, can't you see that?' I was very adament about this, so I went on to give him example after example of the same principle, basically trying to show him that what he had done was underhanded and backstabbing and that things will not work out well if you live your life that way. 'In life, if you cheat,' I told him, 'you will be found out. You can't be imitation, imitation is suicide. Be yourself, you're talented enough, you don't have to put me down or stamp on my name to climb the ladder. You have to work. It's about substance, it's not about making me look bad.' Then I quoted him a small extract from the 1692 poem, 'Desiderata', which was believed by some to have been found in a churchyard in Baltimore (author unknown). One of the stanza goes like this: 'If you compare yourself with others you may become vain and bitter, for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.' I also quoted from a pop song that was out at the time, called 'Everybody's free (wear sunscreen)', whose lyrics listed a litany of guidance, one of which was 'Don't waste your time on jealousy, sometimes you're ahead and sometimes you're behind, the race is long and in the end it is only with yourself.' I was trying to pass on these real nuggets of advice to Naz but he couldn't take it on and I became quite frustrated. In the end, I spoke to him thus, 'If you don't understand or perhaps won't accept what I'm saying, especially that you should apologise to the ITV viewers, then remember this. I expect you'll make champion, and I expect you'll win all the honours. I expect you'll make your name and fame. When you do and they make you King for a day, as they will, you understand this: when you walk by me, when you see me anywhere near you, walk on by like the little runt that you are.'