Post 1950 has there been a harder, stronger, durable fighter Than Chris Eubank?

[Toney616]

Been watching his fights against benn, collins, watson and thompson, eubank has got a cast iron chin and fights like he is made of steele! wow one tuff man!!!

He didn't like body shots. You could bounce punches off his head all day but he struggled to cope with body shots. See Eubank vs Benn I

[Southpaw Stinger]

He didn't like body shots. You could bounce punches off his head all day but he struggled to cope with body shots. See Eubank vs Benn I

And Benn was the opposite. Tough as hell in the guy but a little shakey around the chin.

[Toney616]

And Benn was the opposite. Tough as hell in the guy but a little shakey around the chin.

Funnily enough that was one of the things I liked about him and Hearns. Because it added drama to their fights. Off course I always wanted them to win though.

Those were the days

[joseph5620]

Funnily enough, Steve Collins himself was very tough, durable and had an excellent chin too.

A vote should surely go to Marvin Hagler as an embodiment of all those superlatives.

Yes........

[coghaugen]

In a word, no.

I've never seen a fighter take the punches Eubank took against Benn, punches that had dropped and dazed dozens of fighters incl DeWitt and Barkley, yet Eubank absorbed them and remained clear-headed, firing back straight away!

And I've never seen a fighter take the punishment Eubank took against Watson, and remain in there, let alone end up winning. Watson was clearly extremely strong at the new weight evidenced by the fact he was walking through Eubank's right hands. And he constantly closed the gap, cut the ring and chopped short rights and endless sharp clusters, did Watson - keeping up the pace of a lightweight, yet Eubank just took it all, soaked it up, and ended up winning, albeit tragically. Unreal.

The punches he took from Carl Thompson were frightening considering Thompson was 205lbs on the night and Eubank 185. When his eye closed, he couldn't see the big right hands coming, and they bounced off his head! Absolutely incredible that he stayed in there and kept fighting back.

When a then-powerful Calzaghe caught him cold with a shot he didn't see coming, he bounced off the canvas smiling!

And that left hook he took against Benn in Round Ten of their rematch, looked a greater shot than Frazier's left hook on Ali. Eubank stayed standing, you even saw his jaw/skull jar and jerk in slo-mo.

So put simply, this guy was on his own as far as concreteness and toughness.

[VERILY]

What about the Benn uppercut that gashed Chris' tongue (IIRC)? Crazy amount of blood he must've been swallowing.



Euuuuuuuuuuuuubankkk really does deserve to be thought of as among the most hardy of fighters.

[Welsh Jon]

I liked Eubank from the very beginning. He was a showman. There was a time when that word had little meaning in sport because, well, pretty much everyone tried to put on a show for the fans. Nowadays sportsmen (not just boxers) are ever so serious. Money is at stake and it simply doesn't pay to think of anyone other than numero uno.

Eubank knew how to entertain. When he wasn't knocking people unconscious (Eubank's power was formidable before he could no longer force himself to pull the trigger) he was strutting about the ring like the King of France. Of course, it was all an act - but it was also pure comedy gold.

He was fortunate to arrive on the scene around the same time as Nigel Benn (and, to a lesser extent, Michael Watson) and both profited immensely from their entanglements. To be honest, I could never quite get to grips with Benn's animosity toward Chris. He must have known Eubank was his own best hype. Granted, Eubank claimed he didn't like Benn much either. But I never really believed that. He was just selling the fight.

Oddly enough, what sealed it for me had nothing to do with is exploits in the ring. It was his honesty out of it. There was one interview in which he talked about the Watson fight. It was one of the most humble, moving and honest discussions I've heard from any boxer. In it he basically admit that Watson had him beat. Everything he tried failed and he was shipping a ton of punishment. He talked about taking the knee out of sheer exhaustion and the decision to throw one final punch - with every last shred of power he could summon (which put Watson on the canvas and the operating table). He then talked about the ecstasy of success tinged by the realisation that Watson had slipped into a coma.

I recently watched the fight again (I recommend it to everyone, BTW) and it brought me out in gooseflesh. To me Eubank is the epitome of everything I love about the sport - courage, talent, honesty, sportsmanship and bags of entertainment. It's just a pity there aren't a few more of his kind about now. The sport surely needs such.

Great post mate. Made me wanna re-watch that Watson fight.

[VERILY]

Yepp, Eubank marathon for me before tonight's U.S. events.

[StarshipTrooper]

Yepp, Eubank marathon for me before tonight's U.S. events.

Which ones do you got? :thinking9:

Poet

[VERILY]

Which ones do you got? :thinking9:

Poet

To hand,

Benn I and II
Thompson I and II
Collins I and II (hate watching those, though - seeing Chrissy take losses to Collins was pretty depressing as a kid)
Calzaghe
Watson I and II
Malinga
Stretch
Close I and II

+ a few sundries...



Wish Chris had been tested a bit more regularly and we'd seen him against some more of the bigger 90's names, but it is what it is. He had an odd career and the Watson incident took something out of him that never came back, mentally more than physically. Definitely a tough, tough guy with a tremendous fighting heart, proven when he did go in with some of the best guys.