Eubank's Weird ****/Appreciation Thread

[Combat Talk Radio]

I'll kick us off with what's probably the classic of all classic Eubankian bull****; that time Chris KO'd a dude and just posed but all creepily like:

Reggie Dos Santos (the poor guy who got sparked) was Eubank's version of Hamed/Lawal: not quite a journeyman but nowhere near a top fighter, who was clearly overmatched and placed to make Eubank look dangerous.

This was Eubank's signature "eye test" fight. Up to this point he wasn't the showcase he would later become.

Nigel Benn (his next opponent) would go on to describe Dos Santos as a "Mexican street sweeper" during the contract signing interview.

I actually got the chance to ask Eubank some years ago about what he was thinking when he got that knockout and after, and he said he didn't expect the camera to show up next to him but when it did, he went into "swag it out" mode.

[Rick Taylor]

He's probably on the spectrum. Best autistic boxer I've seen(not meant to offend). That's the reason for all the "weird" behavior.

tank davids will probably take that title tbh

[Quercusalba]

He talked about that moment, I think it was London Real - he was surprised that he went down from the shot and in his mind he's thinking "very good, this WON'T be an easy fight like I thought".

Interesting factoid is that Eubank, more than almost everyone else Calslappy fought, gave Joe all he could handle in spite of that knockdown.

Yes. Yes he did. I just watched that fight again, and it is a big time brawl.

More to the point of this thread, however, in re-watching their fight, one cannot miss Naseem Hamed's shrill, nasal voice shouting at Eubank non-stop. It is quite annoying, and I'm sure fans near him were sick of it. Who is going to tell a pro fighter to shut up, though? Chris Eubank. That's who. Exactly halfway through round eight they go into a clinch, and Eubank looks at Hamed and says, "Shut up Naseem!" Too funny!

[Clegg]

There are a lot of great/unique Eubank moments. His joint interviews with Benn were great with their characters being so different. Watson and Benn were more popular, more entertaining than Eubank. Benn was very aggressive, very working class, ex-soldier, Eubank developed a persona to counter that, acting like an eccentric posh Englishman in a way that annoyed Benn and 90% of UK fans. People don't always realise he was the most hated fighter in the UK for years because people disliked his personality, style, then he beat Watson by controversial decision then he put him in a coma in the rematch. Once he started losing, fans started cheering for him rather than against.

If you like Louis Theroux he did an episode with Eubank years ago that was good. Even reading some of his print interviews is interesting. There was one where he left the room halfway through the interview saying he'd be right back, then when he returned he was suddenly using a lot of long/complicated words. The interviewer asked what he did while he was out of the room and Eubank said he went to go read his thesaurus.

[stefjonno1]

I hated Eubank back in the day(Benn was my man) but he won my respect when he fought twice with carl thomson at Cruiser. To jump up to that weight and go 24 rounds and come very close to winning was pretty impressive. Like someone said at SW he never stepped up and fought the top Americans unlike Benn. He also got some very dubious points wins over a few nobody's.

[Anthony342]

Well I mean, I've seen many interviews of him stretching a long period of time. He would have dropped the 'act' at some point if it was an act but I don't think it is.

It shouldn't be that big of a deal though. I know some people on the spectrum and they got a good sense of humor. They're just 'off' in terms of social behavior. Eubank is high functioning.

As someone on the spectrum off in terms of social behavior is a good description of it, even for someone high functioning. Also being extremely interested in a few specific things is another. Like for me, some TV shows, movies, MMA and boxing, video gaming seems to be big among those on the spectrum. Just wish I had that kind of super powered skill others seem to have where they quickly get really good at a game, like that kid Jimmy in the movie The Wizard. But alas, no. Except maybe with a few games.