http://www.nowboxing.com/2012/06/fan-qa-with-chris-eubank-sr/24329/
Fan Q&A with Chris Eubank Sr
Monday, June 4, 2012
Who was the best fighter you ever fought?
“By far, Michael Watson in our second fight.”
Did Joe Calzaghe hit harder than Nigel Benn as Frank Warren claimed you said..?
“Benn hit me hardest by far, harder than cruiser Carl Thompson even.”
Is it true that you wanted nothing to do with the Michael Nunn & James Toney?
“That’s interesting, because I signed to fight both Nunn and James Toney. As part of the contract with Don King for Nunn, where I was the first fighter to get one over on him when me and Nigel drew. And as part of the contract with SKY for James Toney, where I was the first fighter to sign for a TV company direct, but he lost to Roy Jones.”
Did Roy Jones Jr duck you?
“I was never mandated. But I asked Roy Jones about 10 or 12 years ago if he’d said back in ’93 that the one fighter he thought would give him problems and had reservations of taking on was me. He told me yes that was true.”
Did you take on all the toughest challenges in your career in your opinion?
“As world champion, what you want to avoid is a southpaw who is 6ft or more and unbeaten or been world champion. Rocchigiani and Calzaghe were fights that no other fighter would take. I took them, even though they weren’t even mandated.
“Not even Roy Jones, rated as the best pound-for-pound fighter in history by some writers, would take that fight even when it was mandated to.”
Did you train on Xmas Day and New Years Day and was this hard?
“Yes, and in hindsight it was year-by-year progression to the very best objectively; going into New Year ’91 training for an unbeaten, never-before-dropped world title challenger; New Year ’92 training for never-before-dropped, future world champion; New Year ’93 training for 45-win former world champion; and New Year ’94 training for 35-0 former and future world champion.
“I never missed a single days training from the age of 16 until after I fought Nigel Benn in 1990 and I trained seven days a week to that point.”
How would you have fared against Mike McCallum, Reggie Johnson or Sumbu Kalambay?
“McCallum: I wouldn’t like to say, we are good friends. The other two: difficult styles but I had incredible strength for a middleweight and they didn’t hit anywhere near as hard as Nigel Benn to keep me off.”
Did you see Joe Calzaghe going unbeaten for a further 11 years after your fight?
“No because everyone loses. One must take into account that 11 years was 22 fights or so for him, whereas I had the showmanship and made myself marketable enough to fight five or six title fights a year which was three times as difficult to stay unbeaten.
“He didn’t lose, but he was stuck down the canvas by fighters of pedigree and got up to win in style, every time. Calzaghe was a great fighter.”
Who would’ve won between Steve Collins or Joe Calzaghe?
“Calzaghe was a different class to Collins in terms of ability and talent.”
Who is your favourite fighter of all-time?
“Jack Johnson, and I would like to play the part in his movie.”
EXACTLY this^^^^^^
Not exactly anything!
Had Benn 'not' fought Mcclellan nearly all these forum 'mythical' matches would say Benn has no chance but we all know what happened in that fight.
Truth is,Toney is a HOF as is Hopkins and both have superior skills yet neither punch anywhere near as hard as Nigel Benn and Hopkins certainly doesn't have Benn's heart and ferocity either.
Benn woulda given Jones absolute hell,Nigel aint no Pazienza.
As for Eubank,no way does Roid stop him,not now,not ever.Eubanks chin was easily equal to Toney's or Poppy's.Thats one attribute Eubank possessed that only an idiot would disagree with.
I actually think Nigel Benn KO's peak Jones without much effort but we'll never know.
One things for sure,Jones will continue to get raped abroad until he retires........why?.....because thats his Karma for NEVER fighting abroad when he was a pro unlike Benn,Eubank,Calzaghe,Hagler,Glen Johnson and all other 'non' roid taking champions.
We all know backyard cash cows almost 'NEVER' get tested as Chavez Jr is currently demonstrating.
Enjoy your Karma captain Roid :boxing:
if roy and eubank fough in their primes, eubank would have been beaten very very badly. so would nigel benn, calzaghe, and basically anyone in or around that weight class...
EXACTLY this^^^^^^
Cheers for posting. Always like reading Eubank interviews.
Regarding RJJ, he'd probably would of Eubank..prime RJJ beats almost everyone really in his weight class IMO. Don't think he would of stopped Eubank though..Eubank was a beast and had a solid chin.
Roy did miss a few names. He also fought some bums. But the people he didn't fight weren't as good as Toney and Hopkins. Benn, Eubank, Collins etc. Joe wanted nothing to do with Roy when Roy was in his peak. Roy fought in the U.S. at 175, Joe fought in the U.K. at 168.
The only fighter Roy really missed was DM. Roy wouldn't go to Germany, (He shouldn't have had to, he ws the Champ, nobody fought in Germany back then.) DM could never agree to terms to go to the U.S.
Roy beat some good and great fighters. You can pick anyone's record apart.
Toney, Hopkins, Tate, Malinga, Griffin, Harding, Woods, Gonzalez, Tarver were all good/great wins.
Agreed. Its easy to look at who Jones didnt fight and automatically say Jones ducked them. When in fact there are plenty of good reasons why those fights didnt happen.
Look at wat Jones did and who he fought. Its a great record.
Roy did miss a few names. He also fought some bums. But the people he didn't fight weren't as good as Toney and Hopkins. Benn, Eubank, Collins etc. Joe wanted nothing to do with Roy when Roy was in his peak. Roy fought in the U.S. at 175, Joe fought in the U.K. at 168.
The only fighter Roy really missed was DM. Roy wouldn't go to Germany, (He shouldn't have had to, he ws the Champ, nobody fought in Germany back then.) DM could never agree to terms to go to the U.S.
Roy beat some good and great fighters. You can pick anyone's record apart.
Toney, Hopkins, Tate, Malinga, Griffin, Harding, Woods, Gonzalez, Tarver were all good/great wins.
Diesel,
Shut the **** up you ****ing retard!
Brutally raped? Ha!
Yeah he was raped so bad, Joe was awarded a POINTS decision after getting knocked down. Joe beat him on points at nearly 40, FOUR YEARS AFTER Johnson and Tarver knocked him out. Haha! ****ing hillarious! Joe said in 2006 it was pointless fighting Roy, because he'd been knocked out and a win would mean nothing against him. Then 2 years later when Roy's 2 months away from being 40, he fights him. ****ing pathetic mate! Roy at his absolute peak would have destroyed ANY version of Joe! Joe wanted nothing to do with Roy til he got old. He was scared of flying, but he overcame his fear when Roy was old. ha! He's a joke, just like you! He struggled with Reid and Kessler, so what do you think Roy in his late 20's, early 30's would have done to him?
if roy and eubank fough in their primes, eubank would have been beaten very very badly. so would nigel benn, calzaghe, and basically anyone in or around that weight class...
Eubank was too slippery, smart and had a granite chin. He is one fighter i dont think Jones would have been able to KO.
Why wont he say JC was his best opponent? Probably cos he never fought JC at his best it was a green JC.
Watson broke Eubank down in their rematch. No one ever did that to him before or after. Not even the young Calzaghe.
if roy and eubank fough in their primes, eubank would have been beaten very very badly. so would nigel benn, calzaghe, and basically anyone in or around that weight class...
eubank wanted no part of roy jones. from his own book:
"Lets use Roy Jones as an example. When people asked me why i wouldnt 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 have 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 don't remember any of my critics saying much about that."
http://www.boxingscene.com/forums/showthread.php?t=80872