brutallypowerful
04-04-2005, 04:01 PM
Christopher Livinstone Eubanks (born in 1966) made rapid progress as a young amateur boxer, after less than 18 months of hard work perfecting his craft he reached the semi-finals of the US Golden Gloves in 1983, losing out to Mark Breland in the 147 division. A year later, he lost to Frank Tate in the quarter-finals of the 156 division, but it was there that he formed a friendship with future legend Evander Holyfield. Eubanks went on to achieve the laurel of winning the 1984 New York Spanish Gloves tournament at 156 with victories over Kevin Bryant and Timothy Littles. At this point, Eubanks was personal friends with future legends in Pernell Whitaker and a certain Michael Gerald Tyson having met them at the Jerome Boxing Club in South Bronx in the early eighties. He turned down a number of offers to turn professional in 1984, but having clocked up a huge telephone bill that his mother couldn't afford, he did turn professional a year later on his own terms in October 1985 in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Eubanks failed to show enthusiasm in the pro ranks at first, he twice spent a whole year away from boxing between 1984 and 1988 (two years away overall). It wasn't until he returned to the country he grew up in that he began to excel in rejuvenated fashion reminiscent of his US amateur days, upon returning to the UK in 1988 he changed his name to Chris Eubank, Ronnie Davies (then rookie trainer) and Barry Hearn (then rookie manager) took care of the rising Brighton-based star. It would seem Eubank put them on the map. He was somewhat short-torsoed with high hips, flat-footedness and lacked speed in reaching punches, but pocessed ability to move in and out of range with a smooth jump and good balance in his feet. He had very slick shots so loved opponents to come in close to him, he was also often able to show off his consummate composure and patience, and he had a granite chin. Inside the ring he had slickness and also a strong right hand if needed. Outside the ring, despite being untested inside the ring, the cane-carrying monocle-wearing intellectual who branded boxing a "mugs game" was beginning to walk around like he was a prince. Despised by the British public was Eubank. Added arrogance helped the middleweight to a 20-0 record by 1990, he cheekily refused to fight for a British, Commonwealth or European title, instead he set his sights on grabbing the newly-formed WBO version of the World title. Coming out to his Tina Turner theme song "Simply The Best" and vaulting over the top rope before fights, as well as smug posturing in the ring, even refusing to sit down between rounds as he preened, meant that he was now gaining plenty of recognition. Having won the WBC International title earlier in the year, he took on the WBO middleweight champion and crowd favourite in Nigel Benn in November 1990 for his 25th fight, it was deeply personal and there was nothing fake about their mutual dislike for eachother and differing opinions outside of the ring. Benn, the peoples champion, was a bad-boy brawler coming off the back of a first-round destruction job over former WBC champion Iran Barkley in Las Vegas and loved nothing more than a "tear-up", he detested the more sartorially elegant and upstart Eubank. The pre-fight press conferences and publicised build-up only added fuel to the fire, and the fight itself was a thriller. Upon defeating the highly-rated and fellow UK fighter Benn by a ninth round stoppage after working on Benn's swollen eye, in this classic slugfest that was refereed by Richard Steele, Eubank was now a household name in the UK and a World champion in his own right. But more despised than ever.
By September 1991, the unique, unpredictable and undefeated Chris Eubank had made a number of successful defences of his middleweight title, at this point he decided to move up to the newly-formed super-middleweight division and fight for the vacant WBO version of the title in a re-match against fellow UK fighter Michael Watson. Watson had defeated Nigel Benn over two years previously, had a shot at WBA middleweight champion Mike McCallum just over a year previously, and managed to last the distance with Eubank at middleweight just a few months previous. The re-match will forever be remembered for it's tragic outcome, at the end of round 11 of this classic slugfest, Eubank got up off the canvas to land a fatal uppercut that caused Watson's head to bounce viciously off the tightly pulled lower strand rope, he got to his feet at the bell. The fight was stopped at the start of the final round when Eubank pounced on him from the bell and pummelled the clearly hurt Watson in ruthless fashion. Watson slipped into a coma for 40 days and needed six brain operations, he remains partially paralysed to this day.
Eubank, crafty and clever as a counter-puncher, managed to keep hold of his super-middleweight title in cagey fashion until March 1995 when he lost a narrow decision against Steve Collins, but Chris had remained undefeated for ten years as a professional and five years as a World champion, he didn't lose once in his first 45 fights and to his credit he did take on all the number one contenders for his title and didn't spend any significant length of time away from the ring, although no matter who he was facing he often only did just enough to win with plenty to spare, certainly due to losing a lot of ruthlessness post-Watson. Eubank referred to WBC, IBF and WBA titles as "alphabetical nonsense" and considered himself as the games great showman. He often seemed to be falling short of his potential though with some in reserve, becoming more of a lazy fighter whose fights were becoming boring to watch aside from his ring entrances or sometimes trance-like states, or holding his chest held high whilst looking down his nose at ringsiders. Or giving a little clap with his gloves on top of eachother with cockiness. Everybody desperately wanted to see him knocked off his perch. He'd often try to catch the judges eyes at the end of rounds, using psychology and body language to give off a perception that he was the better man to be champion. At his best, Eubank had a slippery style with counter shots and body shots that were more often than not accurate, but he could sometimes become sloppy and scrappy, looking sharp in the early rounds only to drain away as the rounds go by and grind out the rest of the fight. A dissapointing re-match with arch-rival and then WBC super-middleweight champion, Nigel Benn, in 1993 in a unification clash, ended in a draw. The winner of the Benn-Eubank re-match was guaranteed a unification super-fight with either James Toney (IBF) or Michael Nunn (WBA), but Don King had forgot to put a clause in the contract for a draw. The fight carried a lot of hype, though failed to live upto their epic first battle in 1990, this time around it seemed that Chris just wanted to get out of there unhospitalised. But an impressive 118-109 points win over former IBF super-middleweight champion and future WBC light-heavyweight champion, Graciano Rocchigiani, in 1994 in Rocchigiani's own backyard (in front of a hostile Berlin crowd that chanted racist remarks at Eubank alnight - this spurred him on), was one of his better career wins. Somebody had to lose their '0' that night and Chris made sure that it wasn't going to be him, the 6'3" Southpaw Rocchigiani was undefeated at the time with 35 fights as a professional. He also soundly defeated the European champion, Ray Close, in 1994. A dominant performance against hard-hitting Henry Wharton (in 94) was another first-class display from Eubank, he won every round that he wanted to against Wharton, the only rounds that he didn't win were those that he chose as 'lazy rounds', Eubank asked the referee to consider stopping the fight on a number of occasions (having clearly lost his ruthlessness post-Watson) rather than taking the decision out of the officials hands and ending it himself, because Wharton was, on occasion reeling.
Eubanks failed to show enthusiasm in the pro ranks at first, he twice spent a whole year away from boxing between 1984 and 1988 (two years away overall). It wasn't until he returned to the country he grew up in that he began to excel in rejuvenated fashion reminiscent of his US amateur days, upon returning to the UK in 1988 he changed his name to Chris Eubank, Ronnie Davies (then rookie trainer) and Barry Hearn (then rookie manager) took care of the rising Brighton-based star. It would seem Eubank put them on the map. He was somewhat short-torsoed with high hips, flat-footedness and lacked speed in reaching punches, but pocessed ability to move in and out of range with a smooth jump and good balance in his feet. He had very slick shots so loved opponents to come in close to him, he was also often able to show off his consummate composure and patience, and he had a granite chin. Inside the ring he had slickness and also a strong right hand if needed. Outside the ring, despite being untested inside the ring, the cane-carrying monocle-wearing intellectual who branded boxing a "mugs game" was beginning to walk around like he was a prince. Despised by the British public was Eubank. Added arrogance helped the middleweight to a 20-0 record by 1990, he cheekily refused to fight for a British, Commonwealth or European title, instead he set his sights on grabbing the newly-formed WBO version of the World title. Coming out to his Tina Turner theme song "Simply The Best" and vaulting over the top rope before fights, as well as smug posturing in the ring, even refusing to sit down between rounds as he preened, meant that he was now gaining plenty of recognition. Having won the WBC International title earlier in the year, he took on the WBO middleweight champion and crowd favourite in Nigel Benn in November 1990 for his 25th fight, it was deeply personal and there was nothing fake about their mutual dislike for eachother and differing opinions outside of the ring. Benn, the peoples champion, was a bad-boy brawler coming off the back of a first-round destruction job over former WBC champion Iran Barkley in Las Vegas and loved nothing more than a "tear-up", he detested the more sartorially elegant and upstart Eubank. The pre-fight press conferences and publicised build-up only added fuel to the fire, and the fight itself was a thriller. Upon defeating the highly-rated and fellow UK fighter Benn by a ninth round stoppage after working on Benn's swollen eye, in this classic slugfest that was refereed by Richard Steele, Eubank was now a household name in the UK and a World champion in his own right. But more despised than ever.
By September 1991, the unique, unpredictable and undefeated Chris Eubank had made a number of successful defences of his middleweight title, at this point he decided to move up to the newly-formed super-middleweight division and fight for the vacant WBO version of the title in a re-match against fellow UK fighter Michael Watson. Watson had defeated Nigel Benn over two years previously, had a shot at WBA middleweight champion Mike McCallum just over a year previously, and managed to last the distance with Eubank at middleweight just a few months previous. The re-match will forever be remembered for it's tragic outcome, at the end of round 11 of this classic slugfest, Eubank got up off the canvas to land a fatal uppercut that caused Watson's head to bounce viciously off the tightly pulled lower strand rope, he got to his feet at the bell. The fight was stopped at the start of the final round when Eubank pounced on him from the bell and pummelled the clearly hurt Watson in ruthless fashion. Watson slipped into a coma for 40 days and needed six brain operations, he remains partially paralysed to this day.
Eubank, crafty and clever as a counter-puncher, managed to keep hold of his super-middleweight title in cagey fashion until March 1995 when he lost a narrow decision against Steve Collins, but Chris had remained undefeated for ten years as a professional and five years as a World champion, he didn't lose once in his first 45 fights and to his credit he did take on all the number one contenders for his title and didn't spend any significant length of time away from the ring, although no matter who he was facing he often only did just enough to win with plenty to spare, certainly due to losing a lot of ruthlessness post-Watson. Eubank referred to WBC, IBF and WBA titles as "alphabetical nonsense" and considered himself as the games great showman. He often seemed to be falling short of his potential though with some in reserve, becoming more of a lazy fighter whose fights were becoming boring to watch aside from his ring entrances or sometimes trance-like states, or holding his chest held high whilst looking down his nose at ringsiders. Or giving a little clap with his gloves on top of eachother with cockiness. Everybody desperately wanted to see him knocked off his perch. He'd often try to catch the judges eyes at the end of rounds, using psychology and body language to give off a perception that he was the better man to be champion. At his best, Eubank had a slippery style with counter shots and body shots that were more often than not accurate, but he could sometimes become sloppy and scrappy, looking sharp in the early rounds only to drain away as the rounds go by and grind out the rest of the fight. A dissapointing re-match with arch-rival and then WBC super-middleweight champion, Nigel Benn, in 1993 in a unification clash, ended in a draw. The winner of the Benn-Eubank re-match was guaranteed a unification super-fight with either James Toney (IBF) or Michael Nunn (WBA), but Don King had forgot to put a clause in the contract for a draw. The fight carried a lot of hype, though failed to live upto their epic first battle in 1990, this time around it seemed that Chris just wanted to get out of there unhospitalised. But an impressive 118-109 points win over former IBF super-middleweight champion and future WBC light-heavyweight champion, Graciano Rocchigiani, in 1994 in Rocchigiani's own backyard (in front of a hostile Berlin crowd that chanted racist remarks at Eubank alnight - this spurred him on), was one of his better career wins. Somebody had to lose their '0' that night and Chris made sure that it wasn't going to be him, the 6'3" Southpaw Rocchigiani was undefeated at the time with 35 fights as a professional. He also soundly defeated the European champion, Ray Close, in 1994. A dominant performance against hard-hitting Henry Wharton (in 94) was another first-class display from Eubank, he won every round that he wanted to against Wharton, the only rounds that he didn't win were those that he chose as 'lazy rounds', Eubank asked the referee to consider stopping the fight on a number of occasions (having clearly lost his ruthlessness post-Watson) rather than taking the decision out of the officials hands and ending it himself, because Wharton was, on occasion reeling.