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On Thursday, I caught up with the former outrageous world champion and innovative Chris Eubank Snr! of England, remembered for arrogantly standing between rounds and being the initiator of the boxing ring entrances. He gives us a fantastic insight.
Eubank on how he got started in boxing--
'I moved to the Bronx, New York when I was 16 and hated it so much that I locked myself in my room for three months putting on weight. Then my parents paid $15 for me to join Jerome Boxing gym and I never looked back, I became janitor and locked myself in the gym - I was so haunted by the outside world in the Bronx that I trained like a demon to get out, seven days a week. I obviously became very good, very soon.
'But there's so much to learn. Offensively, you have a dozen punches to master. It took me two years alone to master just the right hand. Defensively, you must learn how to sidestep, how to bob and weave, how to slip and counter, how to catch and counter, how to hit and move; then when to sidestep, when to bob and weave, when to slip, when to catch, when to counter, when to move, when to cover up. It takes years and years to become a skilled fighter.'
Eubank on when he first thought he could be world champion--
'I was 20 years old, I was mastering all the basics, but through martial arts training I was also becoming multi-directionally flexible and learning to distribute 97.5% of my weight to my back foot if I wasn't going into a position to punch - always ready to skip out of range. Other boxers weren't trained to have these add-ons, that extra. That's when I realized I could be a step ahead of the competition.
'In gym fights, the sparring partners of world champions Marvin Hagler and Mike McCallum - Johnny Banks Walker and Sosa - would struggle to punch me. Word spilled to the Top Rank Promotions and they got me on their next show in the Resorts International, and I wasn't told I'd be fighting a southpaw, so couldn't get anything off, and they thought I'd have no chance of becoming a world champion. The next time Top Rank promoted one of my fights, was when I beat Benn for the world title.'
Eubank on the boxing politics--
'When I went to see Mickey Duff, he didn't like my independent attitude and tried bumping me off by giving me a fight on BBC on two hours notice against a cruiserweight [Greg George] when I was 11-stone (154lbs).
'It was similar with Frank ****** and Frank Maloney - one made me travel from Brighton to London every day for two weeks without seeing me, and another promised me £800 if my fight with Anthony Logan was shown live on ITV, which it was. He still owes me that £800.'
Eubank on his unorthodox fight style--
'In boxing, the unorthodox will get the better of the orthodox 8 or 9 times in 10. I have first-hand experience. In Benn 1, I fought him side-on and stop-start with hands down and no jab - he was the most explosive puncher on the planet, so everything had to be unorthodox. I succeeded.
'For Benn 2, Maximo Pierret from New York was training me to fight correctly - jabbing and inside fighting and fluid work. Nigel was ducking and slipping and sliding with no fluidity while marching forward and punching off-balance, so even though I showed faster hands, sharper combinations and better foot movement, he was getting the better of me because he was being unorthodox. It's how he won 6 or 7 rounds in Old Trafford, though his ungentlemanly conduct, which is all into the game, probably cost him [in reference to Benn being deducted a point for low blows].
'For Collins 2, I was training to knock him out in three rounds with correct punching. But he charged forward swinging arm punches all night - Collins knew he couldn't do anything as well as me, so he had to be as ungamely as possible and it worked. He won. Similar with Calzaghe, I thought I'd knock him out in three rounds but he dropped his hands from an awkward southpaw stance and threw hard arm punches all night.
'The unusual is more effective than the usual. One exception to the rule was Marco Antonio Barrera with Naseem - I lost a lot of money that night.'
Eubank on why he didn't fight the very best--
'I fought the very best. I was unfortunate that I had a fighter called Roy Jones around in the Eubank era, who was really in a class of his own and it would be good if he didn't count, because he was out there on his own.
'I fought the very best if we don't count this Roy Jones. Watson in our second fight had the pace of a lightweight and strength of a heavyweight and was exceptionally better offensively than his middleweight days. Benn and Rocchigiani went on to better the No. 2's to Roy Jones, in Gerald McClellan and this European light-heavy Michalczewski.
'I was the only man to properly outbox Lindell Holmes, who caught punches at breakneck speed and switched from body to head himself in breakneck speed, (and) doubled all his punches in breakneck speed. Dan Schommer was the one man to outbox myself - he was always in the perfect spot, just marginally out of range and never missed a counter-punch. And I suppose Calzaghe, who threw combinations at breakneck speed and hit exceptionally hard.
'Regarding Roy Jones, for instance, there were political barriers. But when I broke down those barriers for us to fight, he didn't want to fight for me. He wouldn't fight me. I take that as a compliment.'
Eubank on advise to aspiring young fighters--
'If you talk like your mates and dress like your mates, hang out with your mates and chill out like your mates, you will be just like your mates. In short, ordinary. If you want to be exceptional then you have to be exceptional. This is the Warriors Code.
'What made Ricky Hatton so exceptionally exceptional was that he could be like his mates and still make world champion. But he was one in a million.'
Eubank on how he got started in boxing--
'I moved to the Bronx, New York when I was 16 and hated it so much that I locked myself in my room for three months putting on weight. Then my parents paid $15 for me to join Jerome Boxing gym and I never looked back, I became janitor and locked myself in the gym - I was so haunted by the outside world in the Bronx that I trained like a demon to get out, seven days a week. I obviously became very good, very soon.
'But there's so much to learn. Offensively, you have a dozen punches to master. It took me two years alone to master just the right hand. Defensively, you must learn how to sidestep, how to bob and weave, how to slip and counter, how to catch and counter, how to hit and move; then when to sidestep, when to bob and weave, when to slip, when to catch, when to counter, when to move, when to cover up. It takes years and years to become a skilled fighter.'
Eubank on when he first thought he could be world champion--
'I was 20 years old, I was mastering all the basics, but through martial arts training I was also becoming multi-directionally flexible and learning to distribute 97.5% of my weight to my back foot if I wasn't going into a position to punch - always ready to skip out of range. Other boxers weren't trained to have these add-ons, that extra. That's when I realized I could be a step ahead of the competition.
'In gym fights, the sparring partners of world champions Marvin Hagler and Mike McCallum - Johnny Banks Walker and Sosa - would struggle to punch me. Word spilled to the Top Rank Promotions and they got me on their next show in the Resorts International, and I wasn't told I'd be fighting a southpaw, so couldn't get anything off, and they thought I'd have no chance of becoming a world champion. The next time Top Rank promoted one of my fights, was when I beat Benn for the world title.'
Eubank on the boxing politics--
'When I went to see Mickey Duff, he didn't like my independent attitude and tried bumping me off by giving me a fight on BBC on two hours notice against a cruiserweight [Greg George] when I was 11-stone (154lbs).
'It was similar with Frank ****** and Frank Maloney - one made me travel from Brighton to London every day for two weeks without seeing me, and another promised me £800 if my fight with Anthony Logan was shown live on ITV, which it was. He still owes me that £800.'
Eubank on his unorthodox fight style--
'In boxing, the unorthodox will get the better of the orthodox 8 or 9 times in 10. I have first-hand experience. In Benn 1, I fought him side-on and stop-start with hands down and no jab - he was the most explosive puncher on the planet, so everything had to be unorthodox. I succeeded.
'For Benn 2, Maximo Pierret from New York was training me to fight correctly - jabbing and inside fighting and fluid work. Nigel was ducking and slipping and sliding with no fluidity while marching forward and punching off-balance, so even though I showed faster hands, sharper combinations and better foot movement, he was getting the better of me because he was being unorthodox. It's how he won 6 or 7 rounds in Old Trafford, though his ungentlemanly conduct, which is all into the game, probably cost him [in reference to Benn being deducted a point for low blows].
'For Collins 2, I was training to knock him out in three rounds with correct punching. But he charged forward swinging arm punches all night - Collins knew he couldn't do anything as well as me, so he had to be as ungamely as possible and it worked. He won. Similar with Calzaghe, I thought I'd knock him out in three rounds but he dropped his hands from an awkward southpaw stance and threw hard arm punches all night.
'The unusual is more effective than the usual. One exception to the rule was Marco Antonio Barrera with Naseem - I lost a lot of money that night.'
Eubank on why he didn't fight the very best--
'I fought the very best. I was unfortunate that I had a fighter called Roy Jones around in the Eubank era, who was really in a class of his own and it would be good if he didn't count, because he was out there on his own.
'I fought the very best if we don't count this Roy Jones. Watson in our second fight had the pace of a lightweight and strength of a heavyweight and was exceptionally better offensively than his middleweight days. Benn and Rocchigiani went on to better the No. 2's to Roy Jones, in Gerald McClellan and this European light-heavy Michalczewski.
'I was the only man to properly outbox Lindell Holmes, who caught punches at breakneck speed and switched from body to head himself in breakneck speed, (and) doubled all his punches in breakneck speed. Dan Schommer was the one man to outbox myself - he was always in the perfect spot, just marginally out of range and never missed a counter-punch. And I suppose Calzaghe, who threw combinations at breakneck speed and hit exceptionally hard.
'Regarding Roy Jones, for instance, there were political barriers. But when I broke down those barriers for us to fight, he didn't want to fight for me. He wouldn't fight me. I take that as a compliment.'
Eubank on advise to aspiring young fighters--
'If you talk like your mates and dress like your mates, hang out with your mates and chill out like your mates, you will be just like your mates. In short, ordinary. If you want to be exceptional then you have to be exceptional. This is the Warriors Code.
'What made Ricky Hatton so exceptionally exceptional was that he could be like his mates and still make world champion. But he was one in a million.'
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