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After five years as an unknown pro, you face English crowd favorite Nigel Benn in front of more than 10,000 spectators and more than 10,000,000 as a television audience. Despite Benn having the best punching record in boxing, how did you hold your nerve and do you feel that great win is even under-rated, especially on this side of the ocean?
I understood early on that I would get nowhere without focus, application and self-belief. If you prepare correctly mentally you cannot fail.
My final amateur bout – a Golden Gloves semi-final loss – was fought at the Madison Square Gardens and live on the Wide World of Sports programme. I was only 18 and it was good experience.
We didn't get to see as much of you as we'd have liked…
As hard as my manager Barry Hearn tried, he couldn't convince American Television that I'd do any better than Benn's earlier victims. I put that down to ignorance and vowed never to sign with American Television on principle.
Watson, Benn and Steve Collins all had their world championship chances screened on the Wide World of Sports earlier that year, so I felt extremely hard done by.
Many European fight fans feel you lost your killer instinct as a fighter – so to speak – after your tragic fight with Michael Watson in 1991. Would you go along with that?
Yes.
Who would you say is the best opponent you ever fought?
By far, Michael Watson in our second fight.
You didn't attempt to unify the titles with American champions, why was this?
I was a world champion in my own right, just like James Toney was, (and) just like Roy Jones was.
How would you have fared?
They'd have been my hardest challengers and I'd have been theirs.
Who would you say is the greatest post-Hagler middleweight?
Mike McCallum.
What about the best fighter of your time?
I mastered boxing, but Roy Jones was in a league of his own.
What would you say were the best performances of your career?
All of the Benn, Watson, Thompson and Rocchigiani bouts.
Is it true that you once knocked out Herol Graham in a sparring session?
No I hit him too hard to knock him out! I hit him so hard that I couldn't hit him again! I didn't hit him on his bottom, I hit him on his back. That's how hard I hit him. But he bounced up off the canvas and I couldn't hit him again.
Do you feel your punch is historically under-rated?
It was measured at two tons in force in 1990. It takes years to learn how to punch with devastating consequences. Eric Holland wouldn't ever go down again in 58 fights and that was my hardest punch at the time, still in development.
Your level of competition is sometimes criticized by fight fans, do you feel that's under-rated too?
I turned professional in 1985, won the world championship in 1990 and retired in 1995 with a 43-2-2 record that included 21 world championship fights and 15,000,000 pounds in finances. The great Mike McCallum wouldn't fight Michael Watson again, Steve Collins wouldn't fight Joe Calzaghe and no other world champion would defend in Germany.
Who was your boxing idol?
Dennis Cruz, who you would not have heard of. Like Herol Graham, in the gymnasium it was like he was unbeatable. His ring movement was poetry, like nothing. On two occasions Dennis was one fight away from a world title shot, only to blow it through lack of discipline. I learned from that and placed discipline near the top of my agenda.
'Prince' Naseem Hamed claims you stole the acrobatic rope-jumps from him. What's your take on that?
I took the vault into the ring from Dennis Cruz. My first five professional fights were in Atlantic City against guys with similar records and similar names, so I felt I should vault into the ring to let the crowd, judges and referee know that I might be abit better than normal and abit better than novice.
Finally Chris, we hear that your son, Chris Jr, is a great prospect and Golden Gloves champion in Las Vegas. Will he be following in your footsteps?
Like every parent, I want my off-spring to be happy. I'm not happy for him to box, but if he's happy to box then I've no choice but to support him. He is good, but didn't have the hardest of upbringings and we all know that boxing is about being able to take it, not just give it. We know Amir Khan can give it...
I understood early on that I would get nowhere without focus, application and self-belief. If you prepare correctly mentally you cannot fail.
My final amateur bout – a Golden Gloves semi-final loss – was fought at the Madison Square Gardens and live on the Wide World of Sports programme. I was only 18 and it was good experience.
We didn't get to see as much of you as we'd have liked…
As hard as my manager Barry Hearn tried, he couldn't convince American Television that I'd do any better than Benn's earlier victims. I put that down to ignorance and vowed never to sign with American Television on principle.
Watson, Benn and Steve Collins all had their world championship chances screened on the Wide World of Sports earlier that year, so I felt extremely hard done by.
Many European fight fans feel you lost your killer instinct as a fighter – so to speak – after your tragic fight with Michael Watson in 1991. Would you go along with that?
Yes.
Who would you say is the best opponent you ever fought?
By far, Michael Watson in our second fight.
You didn't attempt to unify the titles with American champions, why was this?
I was a world champion in my own right, just like James Toney was, (and) just like Roy Jones was.
How would you have fared?
They'd have been my hardest challengers and I'd have been theirs.
Who would you say is the greatest post-Hagler middleweight?
Mike McCallum.
What about the best fighter of your time?
I mastered boxing, but Roy Jones was in a league of his own.
What would you say were the best performances of your career?
All of the Benn, Watson, Thompson and Rocchigiani bouts.
Is it true that you once knocked out Herol Graham in a sparring session?
No I hit him too hard to knock him out! I hit him so hard that I couldn't hit him again! I didn't hit him on his bottom, I hit him on his back. That's how hard I hit him. But he bounced up off the canvas and I couldn't hit him again.
Do you feel your punch is historically under-rated?
It was measured at two tons in force in 1990. It takes years to learn how to punch with devastating consequences. Eric Holland wouldn't ever go down again in 58 fights and that was my hardest punch at the time, still in development.
Your level of competition is sometimes criticized by fight fans, do you feel that's under-rated too?
I turned professional in 1985, won the world championship in 1990 and retired in 1995 with a 43-2-2 record that included 21 world championship fights and 15,000,000 pounds in finances. The great Mike McCallum wouldn't fight Michael Watson again, Steve Collins wouldn't fight Joe Calzaghe and no other world champion would defend in Germany.
Who was your boxing idol?
Dennis Cruz, who you would not have heard of. Like Herol Graham, in the gymnasium it was like he was unbeatable. His ring movement was poetry, like nothing. On two occasions Dennis was one fight away from a world title shot, only to blow it through lack of discipline. I learned from that and placed discipline near the top of my agenda.
'Prince' Naseem Hamed claims you stole the acrobatic rope-jumps from him. What's your take on that?
I took the vault into the ring from Dennis Cruz. My first five professional fights were in Atlantic City against guys with similar records and similar names, so I felt I should vault into the ring to let the crowd, judges and referee know that I might be abit better than normal and abit better than novice.
Finally Chris, we hear that your son, Chris Jr, is a great prospect and Golden Gloves champion in Las Vegas. Will he be following in your footsteps?
Like every parent, I want my off-spring to be happy. I'm not happy for him to box, but if he's happy to box then I've no choice but to support him. He is good, but didn't have the hardest of upbringings and we all know that boxing is about being able to take it, not just give it. We know Amir Khan can give it...
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